Blue Jays pitcher José Berríos accuses Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh of stealing signs: ‘It’s a war’

The Blue Jays and Mariners cleared their benches during Saturday’s game after Toronto right-hander José Berríos accused Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh of stealing signs. The kerfuffle occurred during the middle of the fourth inning, after Raleigh singled and then advanced to second base on a walk. No punches were thrown and no ejections handed out, and Berríos would face Raleigh again a few innings later without any additional funny business going down. 

“I didn’t feel like the benches were going to go out, but between the hitter and I, it’s a war,” Berríos told MLB.com. “I am there by myself and I know that hitters can take advantage of many people. As a pitcher, I can’t let that happen.”

Sign-stealing has been a part of baseball for as long as the game has existed. Indeed, pay attention the next time a runner is on second base for any length of time, and you might catch a glimpse of a thief in action. Maybe said runner will lean one way or another to tip off his teammate about the pitch’s intended location, or perhaps they’ll run their hand across one body part or another to alert the hitter about the pitch type. The implementation of PitchCom has made these occurrences more rare, as catchers are rarely flashing easily spotted digits to call pitches, but they’ll continue to happen for as long as some pitchers hold out.

“I didn’t have the pitches,” Raleigh said, according to MLB.com. “But that’s just how it is. I’d want my pitchers doing the same thing if somebody thought they were tipping.”

To be clear: Raleigh didn’t violate any actual rules even if he was stealing signs. While teams never want their signs pilfered — and incidents like Saturday’s tend to occur when they suspect that’s what’s going on — this kind of stuff differs from what the Houston Astros did a few years back, when they improperly used technology during games to crack signs. So long as what’s being done is being done in real time, and by the humans on the field, it’s a socially accepted part of the game.

It should be noted that the Mariners didn’t actually benefit from whatever Raleigh was (or wasn’t) doing at second base. Rowdy Tellez struck out on four pitches and Dylan Moore popped up on the first offering he saw. Later, after Raleigh doubled off Berríos in the fifth inning, the subsequent hitter struck out on four pitches to end the frame without doing additional damage.

The Mariners still won by an 8-4 final.