Alek Manoah not backing down from claim about Gerrit Cole

Mar 14, 2021; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah (75) looks on during their game against the New York Yankees at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah is not backing away from criticism he directed toward Yankees ace Gerrit Cole ahead of their head-to-head matchup on Saturday.

In an appearance on NBA forward Serge Ibaka’s podcast last November, Manoah called Cole the worst cheater in baseball history, claiming that the Yankee pitcher used “a lot of sticky stuff” to improve his pitches. With Manoah set to face Cole and the Yankees on Saturday, this topic came up again, and Manoah did not walk any of it back.

“I said what I said,” Manoah said Friday, via Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. “It was a game show, and I wasn’t trying to drink cricket tea.”

Cole has never responded to Manoah’s remarks, but he almost certainly is aware of them. Perhaps part of the reason for a lack of response is because Cole has given some reason to believe that Manoah was not entirely off the mark in his assessment of Cole’s history. Still, it is not a claim that Cole would probably appreciate or take lightly.

The two pitchers come into Saturday’s game on very different trajectories. Manoah has struggled in 2023 with a 6.98 ERA in four starts, while Cole has been arguably the most dominant pitcher in baseball in the season’s first month, winning all four of his starts while maintaining an ERA of 0.95.