Yankees' biggest haters have even more ammo thanks to Emmanuel Clase shocker

A shocking bit of MLB news hit the wire on Monday afternoon. Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on paid leave through Aug. 31 as the league investigates gambling allegations, which are tied to fellow suspended Guardians reliever Luis Ortiz. ESPN's Jeff Passan was the first to report the news.

This is not necessarily an accusation of guilt — innocent until proven guilty and whatnot — but it feels awfully fishy for two Guardians relievers to be linked in the same gambling probe. We can also safely say that MLB would not be investigating Clase without, you know, a reason. Again, he's not proven guilty, but skepticism is more than justified.

It's terrible news for the Guardians fanbase but exceptionally hilarious news for those with a passion for hating on the New York Yankees (don't we all?). New York's path to the World Series last October went through a red-hot Guardians team. The Yankees won comfortably, 4-1, with their only loss coming on the road in Game 3. That happened to feature the rare clutch postseason moment from Aaron Judge, who tied the game 3-3 in the eighth inning with a rocket over the right field wall. The pitcher? Yep, none other than Emmanuel Clase.

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MLB fans roast Yankees, Aaron Judge after Emmanuel Clase news

Judge's poor postseason track record now has another stain on it. His most signature moment from the 2024 postseason, which happened in a game that New York still lost, came against a pitcher now under investigation for potentially betting against himself.

Yankees haters (A.K.A., a bunch of Red Sox fans) are celebrating in the streets.

There are plenty more where that came from. If you're bored and looking for ways to mindlessly consume content on your phone, typing 'Judge Clase' into your Twitter search bar isn't a bad course of action.

Again, Clase is innocent until proven guilty. And yeah, if we're taking bets, he probably didn't bet on that specific pitch last season (I'm sorry). Still, unless Clase's name is cleared, his entire career up until this point will have an asterisk on it, as will all meaningful accomplishments against Clase.

Aaron Judge and Yankees need to prove the haters wrong in 2025

There's only one way for Judge to put these narratives to bed. He needs to lead a deep playoff run and put together a monster stretch in October. It's a bit jarring to look at his postseason numbers relative to his regular season output. He's so clearly one of the greatest hitters of all time — a generational power threat with incredible contact skills and underrated plate discipline. But none of that matters, at least not to the haters, if Judge can't show up in late autumn.

This is mostly a fun jab at the Yankees All-Star — it's pretty clear that Clase didn't purposely serve up a meatball hoping that Judge would tie a do-or-die postseason game, because that is just bad odds. Much more damning is the long list of examples of Clase throwing 0-0 pitches way outside the zone with no runners on base. That is a far less conspicuous and far more controllable way to help your buddies rack up the big bucks in Las Vegas (or wherever these bets were placed).

Still, it is fun to hate on Aaron Judge. As a non-Yankees fan, this much I can admit. Good slander is always appreciated in these parts.