It’s waaaay too early for it to be getting late early. Even Yogi would have admitted as much. 

But it’s not too early to warn: Beware these Blue Jays. 

They appeared to be having themselves a jolly good time dispatching the Yankees 3-0 in the opener of a four-game series at the Stadium during which free agent-to-be Aaron Judge — zero home runs in 16 at-bats — heard some boobirds when he whiffed in the eighth inning. 

“This is the mecca,” winning pitcher Alek Manoah said. “You want to play hard, there’s a lot of fans here, and it’s just an exciting ballpark to play in, and something you dream of as a kid, you know?” 

The Jays showed the Yankees all the moves: dominant starting pitching from Manoah (89 pitches), who surrendered a lone single to Joey Gallo across six innings … mashing from once-a-villain-always-a-villain former Astros cheater George Springer, whose two-run homer off Jameson Taillon and RBI double off Michael King antagonized the chilled Yankees fans. 

“We’re just a bunch of kids going out there giving it all we got,” Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette said. “We work like professionals and everything like that and we go out there, we just have fun, we trust in our preparation, trust in each other in the lockerroom. It just honestly feels comfortable anywhere we are. I love playing with these guys, it’s an awesome group.

“I think that we’ve always been very confident in what we can accomplish. I think that the world is probably a little bit behind what we thought. We’ve known that we had an ability to make some noise for a few years internally. Obviously we didn’t, but I think this is the first year that people are kinda onboard.”

The Yanks threatened in the seventh against reliever Trevor Richards, until Teoscar Hernandez made a sliding catch on a Kyle Higashioka flyball in short right with runners on first and second, and Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo summoned submarine sidearmer Adam Cimber to face pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson. The former MVP then smashed a torrid two-hopper up the middle that was masterfully turned into a 4-6-3 double play that had Cimber gesticulating and bellowing with delight. 

“Pitching and defense is gonna win games in this league,” Montoyo said. 

The Blue Jays came to bury the Yankees, not to praise them. 

Springer lifted his right arm high as he rounded the bases in the third inning. 

“Every game is huge. We learned that last year that every game counts, every game matters,” Springer said. 

Go ahead and boo him. If he hears it, he won’t admit to it. 

“I’m concentrating on the stuff that I control, which is the swing and all that stuff — that’s it,” Springer said. 

Then it was Manoah’s turn: He walked the bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the third, Giancarlo Stanton at the plate. Stanton’s bat splintered and the grounder got past third baseman Matt Chapman, except Bichette ignored the flying shard and effortlessly threw Stanton out with help from a nice Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stretch at first. Manoah exulted, the visiting dugout roared with delight. 

“That’s a game-changer,” Manoah said. “I told him he’s automatic.” 

Manoah’s growing confidence in his changeup makes him all the more dangerous. 

“It’s come a long way,” Manoah said. “I feel really good throwing it. I’m gonna go ahead and keep mixing that in, and see what happens.” 

The AL East looms as a compelling four-team horse race, and it would behoove the Yankees to improve on their 46-35 2021 record at home and 36-40 record against the division. They are 2-2 and 2-2, respectively right now. 

“Really, really close group of guys and everybody’s very focused on the one mission of winning, and winning a championship,” Gallo said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, what their name is, how much money they make, everybody works the same way, and it’s very rare to see that.” 

It’s not too early to warn: Beware the Blue Jays. 

“The division’s loaded,” Gallo said. “It should be a fun year. You want games that matter every day. I think it’s gonna be a fun year for the fans, fun year for the AL East in general.” 

Just not a fun night for the team in The Bronx.