The Twins made easy work of the Blue Jays in their AL wild-card sweep, and the series honestly felt like it was over after one play in the top of the fifth inning.
As the Blue Jays were threatening with two outs and Bo Bichette up with runners on second and third, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a massive base-running mistake and got picked off at second to end the inning. It was a play that pitcher Sonny Gray and shortstop Carlos Correa dialed up perfectly. And between innings, ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez thought he saw how the play was going to develop in real time.
There was just one problem: A-Rod was making things up.
A-Rod says that Sonny Gray touched his hat as the indicator to Carlos Correa for the pickoff play pic.twitter.com/w6CvldISih
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 4, 2023
When the broadcast returned to the bottom of the fifth inning, Rodriguez had the crew revisit the play and claimed that the pickoff was called by Gray as he touched his cap to let Correa know that a pickoff was coming. It would have been a cool broadcasting moment from a former big-league shortstop if what Rodriguez was saying was actually true.
Now, Gray — and many MLB pitchers — frequently touch their cap. It would be a terrible signal (and an easy one for opponents to spot). But the main problem with A-Rod’s analysis here was that he framed a guess as some kind of certainty. That in itself was dishonest to the viewers and blew up in his face when Gray was asked about the play postgame.
The call never came from Gray. Instead, it was signaled by Correa to the dugout and called to Gray in his PitchCom system.
@mlbnetworkSonny Gray and Carlos Correa were in sync for this clutch pickoff! 💥
Correa had told Gray earlier in the game that the runners weren’t able to hear the “BACK!” shouts from the Blue Jays bench and base coaches. So, they had the pickoff opportunity in their mind up until the fifth inning when it was called from the dugout.
A-Rod, who didn’t play during the PitchCom era, was probably basing his observation off his own experience. But plays are called differently in today’s game, and A-Rod honestly should have known that instead of pretending to read the Twins’ signs.
Once Gray made his postgame comments, fans were quick to call out Rodriguez — who had just called his last game with ESPN — for his false commentary.
