Alek Manoah calls out Gerrit Cole, not PED users, as biggest cheater in MLB history (Video)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah gave quite the take by calling Gerrit Cole out as the biggest cheater in MLB amidst several worse offenses.

Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah took his rivalry with Gerrit Cole to another level in a clip posted on Twitter where he called Cole the ‘worst cheater in baseball history.’

https://twitter.com/BRWalkoff/status/1594834714283724800

While it’s never been confirmed that Cole used a sticky substance during his start with the New York Yankees this past season, it seems all but confirmed that he used one based on an interview released by ESPN.

"“I don’t [long pause] … I don’t know … I don’t quite know how to answer that, to be honest. There are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players, and I think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard. This is important to a lot of people who love the game, including the players in this room, including fans, including teams, so if MLB wants to legislate some more stuff, that’s a conversation that we can have. Because ultimately we should all be pulling in the same direction on this.” -Gerrit Cole, via ESPN"

While cheating is never justified, it seems a bit extreme to call him out as the biggest cheater in the league when there are much bigger scandals such as several players using PEDs, gambling scandals throwing games, stealing signs, the list goes on.

Cole’s offense is much less severe considering, and there were bigger scandals this season alone, like Fernando Tatis Jr. being suspended for PEDs.

MLB history is full of much worse cheating scandals than Gerrit Cole

When looking at the broad scope of MLB, there are much worse issues than using a sticky substance in one game at the beginning of the season. It’s not something that should’ve happened, but it possibly helped them win one game that wasn’t overly meaningful and they were favored to win anyway.

Many consider Alex Rodriguez the worst cheater in MLB history, which is a lot more justifiable considering he was a high-caliber player that was tied to one of the biggest, if not the biggest, PED scandals in American sports history.

There were also moments like the Black Box scandal dating back to 1919 that threw the World Series as eight Chicago White Sox players were bribed to lose to the Cincinnati Reds. Pete Rose also bet on games while he was the manager of the Reds.

There are several instances to choose from, but it seems as though Manoah just called on Cole because of their known rivalry. There are certainly much worse cheaters in baseball history than Gerrit Cole.