New York Yankees: Gerrit Cole in a sticky situation

Perhaps with a little help, New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole nearly extended his win streak to 20 yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

When the sign-stealing scandal revealed to the baseball world the truth behind the greatness of the Houston Astros, current New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole remained relatively mum. Prior to taking his talents to the Bronx, the right-handed flamethrower spent two seasons in Houston, turning himself into the best pitcher in MLB, but seems to have had no idea about the cheating.

Or did he?

In the first game of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday, Cole looked like the ace the Yanks were looking for, striking out 10 batters through 4.2 innings of work. Then, as the ace labored through the 5th inning, remote video editor for Driveline Baseball Lance Brozdowski dropped a gem on the twitterverse (above).

As Cole adjusted his cap on the mound, his fingers seem to stick to the bill of his cap, leaving us wondering why?

The obvious answer is that Cole is using an illegal sticky substance (i.e. pine tar) on the mound in a more subtle way than former Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda famously did.

If Gerrit Cole was cheating, what should the New York Yankees do about it?

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Technically, this is breaking an MLB rule. However, it’s one of those unspoken of things plenty of pitchers do on a daily basis.

Why this story is such a big deal is because back in May 2018, when Cole was a member of the Astros, current Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer accused Houston pitchers of using pine tar to better grip baseballs.

It’s not so much that Bauer is against the use of a sticky substance on the pitcher’s mound. In fact, in a statement shortly after he clarified that he wasn’t accusing them of cheating at all. If nothing else, Bauer just wants baseball to “allow it.”

Bauer’s argument for the use of “sticky substances” is that “a lot of hitters are fine with it because they don’t want projectiles flying at 100 MPH at their head.” The use of sticky substances gives pitchers more control of their pitches and, let’s face it, most pitchers do it.

Unless you’re the aforementioned Pineda or Yusei Kikuchi, heck even Clayton Kershaw in game 1 of the 2017 World Series, nobody really notices or cares. Frankly, neither do the Yankees.