TORONTO -- After scoring three runs total in Games 1 and 2, the vaunted Blue Jays' offense broke out in Game 3, scoring 11 runs in the win (TOR 11, KC 8). Kansas City still leads the best-of-seven ALCS two games to one.
Like most teams, the Blue Jays were more successful at home than on the road this season. They went 53-28 at home and 40-41 on the road, though their offense produced everywhere. The Blue Jays averaged 5.56 runs at Rogers Centre during the regular season and 5.44 runs on the road.
Rumors of the Blue Jays stealing signs at Rogers Centre have existed for years. Heck, former player Gregg Zaun even admitted to stealing signs while playing with the Blue Jays. There's also the infamous "Man in White," a person who reportedly sits in center field with a white shirt relaying signs to the hitters.
Prior to Game 4 of the ALCS Tuesday, Royals righty Edinson Volquez said Johnny Cueto told him he believes the Blue Jays were stealing signs in Game 3.
"He said, I think he said, they got a guy in center field," said Volquez. "You see how hard it is, he look to the center field and he see somebody do this or do that ... I don't know, he said that, but when a guy gets on second base, he said something about that too, they were giving signs to the hitter. But I don't know."
Volquez downplayed the allegations -- "It's nothing wrong with it. We just have to hide the ball and give them multiple signs to hide it from them." -- but still, that's consistent with what we've heard about other Blue Jays sign-stealing rumors over the years.
For what it's worth, here are views from the right-center field seats (Section 101) and left-center field seats (Section 142) at Rogers Centre, which appear to be the best spots to hide a potential sign-stealer.
Both sections could work as long as the sign-stealer has a really good set of binoculars. My guess is most ballparks have a similar vantage point for potential sign-stealers, so this really isn't unique to Rogers Centre.
The WestJet Flight Deck in dead center field would also be a fine place to stick someone to steal and relay signs, except it is being used as auxiliary media seating for the ALCS. It seems impossible to discreetly pull off an operation like that while parked among media members.
"Most of the teams come here -- we've got a lot of friends on different teams -- they always say that they give signs or whatever it is," added Volquez. "You can tell if you're good or not when you're pitching, the way they take pitches, and maybe the guy moving from second base or whatever it is. But I don't keep that in my mind."
Of course, this is the big leagues, and every team steals signs to some degree. That's just baseball. If you don't want your signs stolen, protect them better. As far as I'm concerned, any sign stealing on the field is fair game.
That said, having someone in center field relaying signs is a different matter. That's outright cheating, going well beyond normal gamesmanship. The rumors have followed the Blue Jays for years and regardless of whether they're accurate, that's a hard reputation to shake.
