Chicago Cubs: Christian Yelich lights up Yu Darvish on Twitter

Amidst the controversy surrounding the Houston Astros cans, another controversy has sprung up between the Chicago Cubs and a rival.

Christian Yelich is a really good hitter. That much is undeniable. Chicago Cubs hurler Yu Darvish can also be a really good pitcher. That is also undeniable by even the biggest of cynics and pessimists.

You might ask why any of this matters, but unless you’ve been living under a rock or staying off Twitter like the plague, you probably already know the answer. While the Astros are on the hot-seat due to their possible use of video camera to steal signs, it stands to reason that some other teams could possibly be doing the same thing.

In fact, it seems more likely than not that there may be some other teams and players who just might be coming under some scrutiny in the weeks and months ahead for sign-stealing shenanigans.

One such player and team is Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers. However, according to Yelich’s disparaging tweet aimed at Darvish yesterday, there’s no need to even try and figure out what Darvish is throwing ahead of time because he’s just not that good and no one would even need any extra help hitting the big right-hander.

Darvish did try to defend his original tweet by saying he wasn’t actually claiming any wrongdoing, just explaining what had happened in the video when he stepped off the rubber. Yelich, on the other hand, decided to be curt and disrespectful with his response.

Chicago Cubs: Will the Twitter feud with Darvish end in Yelich being all smiles?

In addition to the increase in production engendered by the move to Milwaukee, Yelich also produced some curiously disparate home and away splits this past season. It was the talk of baseball early in the season and over the course of the year, the talk subsided. What didn’t subside a whole lot though, is the difference in his numbers.

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In 65 games on the road in 2019, Yelich put up an excellent slash line of .312/.409/.597 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI. That would seem to suggest that regardless of anything else, Yelich has absolutely taken it to a new level since joining the Brewers and entering his prime.

The problem is, if sign-stealing is a reality for Yelich and the Brewers, home is where it would be easier to set a system up. The slash line in 65 games at Miller Park for Yelich was a mind-boggling .347/.451/.740 to go along with 27 home runs and 59 RBI. For what it’s worth, he also struck out less and walked more at home.

Again, this could just be explained away (to a point) by the fact that most players tend to like playing at home and get used to the sight-lines at home vs. a bunch of road ballparks they don’t visit nearly as often. Except… except. Those numbers are crazy.

While it’s hard to come to a definitive answer about whether or not Yelich did anything wrong in the video or in general at this point, if you freeze the video between the 11 and 13 second marks, it’s very clear Yelich’s eyes turn towards something in left-center field. It may just be a freak thing or coincidence, but Darvish stepped off immediately following the look and some fans even remembered that it looked a bit odd.

Chicago Cubs: Darvish seems to be a very genuine and cerebral nice guy.

What happens from here is anyone’s guess. Yelich wasn’t very nice on twitter and Darvish responded the way he generally does on social media – with grace and dignity. The backers and supporters seem to be as varied and disparate as Yelich’s splits, with Cubs fans backing their guy and Brewer’s fans doing the same with few exceptions.

It will be interesting to see if anyone takes the time to go back through more of the Brewers’ games to see if anyone else looked out towards the bullpen in any other games. If what happened with the trash can-banging espionage is any indicator, several teams will probably be coming under fire for their own tomfoolery during the offseason.

In addition to more video footage possibly being uncovered, one has to also think about the fact that the Brewers and Cubs will be playing 19 times this coming season, with Darvish taking the mound in roughly 20 percent of those games depending on rotation scheduling. Does Darvish throw one behind Yelich in their first at bat? Probably not.

It’s much more likely he’ll take the high road and let his right arm do the talking – namely, attempt to strike out the left-hander the way he did most of his Brew Crew teammates this past season. But, but, but… nobody needs help facing Yu.

While Yelich is undoubtedly a great player with or without sign-stealing antics, what a story this would become if more examples started popping up of the Brewers doing some more of this kind of thing.