The Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox were the only two teams to face punishment from MLB for sign-stealing antics in 2017 and 2018, but a new book accuses the Los Angeles Dodgers of doing the same.
In an excerpt from Evan Drellich’s upcoming book “Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess”, the author cites an unnamed Red Sox player who says that Major League Baseball knew the Dodgers were stealing signs during the 2018 World Series, yet chose not to punish them.
Ironically, the Red Sox — who were facing the Dodgers in that series — were found guilty by MLB of stealing signs that same season, leading to the firing of their video coordinator. MLB considered the Red Sox’ sign stealing “limited in scope and impact.”
Here’s the full excerpt from Drellich’s book via the Boston Globe:
During the 2018 World Series, the Red Sox and Dodgers were both suspicious that their opponent was using video to steal signs.
“The Dodgers have always been the thing that bothers me the most,” an unidentified member of the Red Sox told Drellich. “Because they’re the biggest cheaters in the whole [expletive] industry. … They were doing it against us in the ’18 World Series. They got caught by Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball did nothing.”
A Red Sox source relayed a story to Drellich about the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson running into the visiting video area at Fenway, where teammate Chase Utley and an MLB official were situated.
“Hey, did you get his signs yet?” Pederson is said to have asked. “And they’re just like, ‘[Expletive] — [expletive] idiot,’ ” the Red Sox source said of the league official’s response, according to Drellich’s reporting. “Apparently, nothing is done by MLB except they say, ‘Stop doing that [expletive], don’t do that [expletive].’ Then they go over to the Red Sox clubhouse to video operator J.T. Watkins, and they’re like proactively scolding him, making sure he doesn’t do that. “And he turns to the guy and says, ‘Oh, you caught Chase Utley doing [expletive]?’
Alex Cora was reportedly the mastermind behind the Astros sign-stealing scandal when he was the team’s bench coach, before being hired by the Red Sox as their manager in 2018. He was suspended for the entire 2020 season by MLB, but returned to Boston’s dugout the following year.
If the accusations against the Dodgers are true, it didn’t help them that much in the 2018 World Series. Boston beat LA in just five games.