Why Aaron Judge Is An All-Time Blue Jays Villain

A breakdown of Aaron Judge's next-level knavery at Rogers Centre.

© John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO – Aaron Judge might just be the greatest villain in Toronto — and, now more than ever, he’s playing the part with devilish aptitude.

Blue Jays fans know Judge mashes when he comes to town. In 39 career games at Rogers Centre, the 31-year-old has 15 home runs and a 1.060 OPS. But, two games into a four-game series, his evil aura is different. The boos ring out louder when Judge walks to the dish, and each smirk from the hulking slugger draws blood-boiling levels of spite from Toronto’s home faithful.

But how did Judge become the Blue Jays’ arch-enemy? And why is he so well-versed in the art of irritation?

Sign-Stealing Shenanigans

The silliest thing about these Blue Jays-Yankees sign-stealing hijinks is that Judge didn’t need the help. With one homer on the evening already, No. 99 teed off for another moonshot in the eighth inning of Monday’s contest.

the Blue Jays broadcast pointed out that Aaron Judge seemed to be looking, well, not at the pitcher...and then they noticed it again just before he homered pic.twitter.com/mHFXbsF6S3

— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) May 16, 2023

From a distance, there’s nothing unordinary about Judge, arguably the best hitter in baseball, mashing the sixth consecutive slider of an at-bat 462 feet to center field. Impressive? Sure. Something more sinister? Unlikely, until the video came out and the internet sleuths took over.

Whether the 2022 AL MVP was actually glancing at relayed signs or peeping into his dugout as he said, the whole fiasco wasn't terribly impactful on the game. Again, Judge was locked in during that plate appearance.

"He's a good hitter, regardless,” said Jay Jackson, the Blue Jays reliever who allowed Judge’s second homer Monday. “He was probably sitting on it. [I] threw him a lot of sliders."

Call it a matter of principle, then. And the Blue Jays were upset, so they spoke to MLB. The league then instructed Tuesday's umpires to ensure each club’s base coaches remain inside the respective coaches’ boxes.

Some yelling back and forth between the #BlueJays dugout and New York’s 3rd base coach.

Now the umps are talking to the 3B coach. This story isn’t dying yet.

— Mitch Bannon (@MitchBannon) May 16, 2023

John Schneider said his piece Tuesday, doubling down on his initial assessment that Judge’s glances were “odd” and mildly questioning the Yankee captain’s explanation for his behavior.

“I’m not in the business of buying postgame media,” the Jays skipper said. “He's a really accomplished hitter who won the MVP last year. I know that he means nothing but business and wants to win. I just found it a little funny he was worrying about his dugout when he was in the batter’s box.”

Of course, Judge didn’t remove himself from this conversation. He stoked the fire, calling out the Sportsnet broadcast team for, what he believed, was the duo accusing him of cheating.

Aaron Judge said that he has some “choice words about” about the Blue Jays broadcasters insinuating that he was cheating. He declined to share them. “I’m not happy about it, but people can say what they want. I’ve still got a game to play. I’ve got things to do.”

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) May 16, 2023

All that hoopla led us to Tuesday night, Judge's official induction into the Blue Jays' Hall of Infamy.

Judge Homers Tuesday, Breaks Maple Leaf In Flight Deck

448 ft. Into orbit. #AllRise pic.twitter.com/uobhCbReZw

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 17, 2023

Big players rise to big occasions. Judge, amid scrutiny and sneers from the crowd, shut everyone up with one mighty cut. His herculean blast off Erik Swanson in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game broke a 3-3 tie and gifted the Yankees an important victory.

In true villainous fashion, Judge didn’t just break the hearts of Blue Jays fans; he made things personal. The home run rocketed towards center field, eventually landing in the WestJet Flight Deck, where the ball chipped a piece off the bright white maple leaf logo.

Aaron Judge broke the maple leaf in center field pic.twitter.com/vwQtlyod91

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 17, 2023

Crushing homers is one thing, but desecrating the Flight Deck, a certified holy site for Jays fans, is next-level knavery. Just another symbolic scar from a series where Judge seemingly can’t be stopped.

Judge’s Previous Sins

Context is important here, too, since Judge has cranked a myriad of back-breaking homers at Rogers Centre recently.

You needn’t delve too deeply into your memory to recall Judge’s AL-record-tying 61st homer in Toronto a season ago. The circus of national attention in that series alone made Judge (and Frankie Lasagna) a larger-than-life figure.

455 ft to get us started. pic.twitter.com/JwjUStWYWa

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 30, 2021

Venture even further, and Blue Jays fans will, quite painfully, remember a pair of Judge’s gargantuan home runs off Robbie Ray on Sept. 30, 2021. The first sailed 455 feet before nestling into the lounge below the stadium's old scoreboard.

That certainly wasn’t where the saga began — call those homers the middle of the story — but as the timely dingers add up, it’s clear Judge merits an extra dose of vitriol from Jays fans every time he makes the trip to Toronto.