The sign-stealing saga of the MLB may have gotten a bit bigger. Off the heels of the Astros’ cheating allegations in the 2017 World Series, former Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish didn’t want to dwell on his tough game seven loss for the Dodgers, after which he became widely reviled in Los Angeles.
However, Darvish — now with the Cubs — did bring attention to a strange incident this season that did not involve Houston, but rather the Milwaukee Brewers. Darvish told the Los Angeles Times about a game in which he stepped off the mound several times due to the batters focusing their eyes in left-center field.
Cubs blog Bleacher Nation speculated that Darvish was referring to his Sept. 7 start at Miller Park in Milwaukee, and posted a video showing Christian Yelich looking towards left-center while at the plate.
Here's the video – it happens very quickly, and just before Yu steps off. Yelich is locked on Darvish, eyes flick toward left center, then back to Darvish. Yu steps off. pic.twitter.com/hqOSvGMGEh
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) November 15, 2019
After a Twitter user argued that Yelich may have looked away because Darvish stepped off, Darvish replied, “I’m not sure what is he trying to do. But to be clear his eyes move first. That’s why I step off.”
Yelich then got Twitter fingers himself, and defended himself with a Tweet of his own.
https://twitter.com/ChristianYelich/status/1195462269594812417?s=20
Darvish responded by telling Yelich that he was not outright accusing him or the Brewers of stealing signs. Yelich ghosted him. But, much to the delight of denizens of baseball Twitter, Yu got in a final word on Saturday morning.
Yesterday, the Japanese media accidentally used my picture in a news report about a hit and run incident where I was apparently the victim of the hit and run.
Ah..now that I think about it, I certainly was a victim of a hit and run yesterday.
.. pic.twitter.com/vxw9VSSsdK— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) November 16, 2019
The Astros/baseball cheating saga continues to be the talk of the game. While MLB is still in the process of info gathering before dropping a punishment on the Astros, accusations will undoubtedly continue to fly.
