Blue Jays have one more reason to be annoyed at Yankees’ most controversial player

The rivalry between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees has heated up in recent years. The American League East rivals have gone back and forth in their battles on and off the field.

Whether it be the shifty eyes of Aaron Judge that led to a controversial home run back in 2023, Blue Jays' manager John Schneider being irate of the Yankees stealing signs off of Max Scherzer, or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. trolling them with his infamous “Da Yankees lose” quote in 2025, the friction between the two teams is at an all-time high.

Now there is another incident thrown into the mix, involving Yankees’ infielder José Caballero. Earlier this year, Caballero generated a huge ruckus in a game between Toronto and New York with his timing in the batter’s box. But this past weekend he did something on the field that goes against the rules of the game and gave the Blue Jays another reason to be ticked off at him.

During the ninth inning of Sunday’s game (Aug. 17) at Rogers Centre, Caballero committed what appeared to be obstruction on a scoring play. With one out and Blue Jays' infielder Josh Smith at third base representing the tying run for Toronto, Ernie Clement launched a fly ball to center field that appeared to be deep enough to score Smith from third.

However, on the play, it looked as if Caballero intentionally blocked the view of Smith from seeing the trajectory of the fly ball, hoping that it would throw off his timing to tag up.

José Caballero hasn't endeared himself to many fan bases this year, including the Toronto Blue Jays.

Fortunately for the Blue Jays, Smith scored on the play. But Caballero once again became public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jays fans. Technically, this is obstruction according to the strict rules of the game, but there are lots of examples where umpires have been very lenient on these kinds of plays over the years.

However, it's still an unsportsmanlike move, just like the infamous Alex Rodríguez deceptive scream on a pop-up, causing Blue Jays' infielder Howie Clarke to drop the ball and eventually allow more runs to score during a game in 2007.

The Blue Jays still ended up losing the game this past Sunday in 10 innings, but managed to take the weekend series from the Yankees to make up some ground in the playoff race. But with Toronto visiting New York for another weekend series coming up, we could be in for some more fireworks with the way things have been going between these two clubs.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow