Yankees: Highway robbery times three and the honor of the game

Allegations of Astros cheating

Many in baseball have long suspected that the Houston Astros have been cheating by using electronic means to steal opponents’ signs at Minute Maid Park. A story written by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich — and published in the Athletic sheds new light on this suspicion.

According to the story, pitcher Mike Fiers and three other anonymous team sources confirm the existence of a sign-stealing scheme by Houston. Fiers pitched for the ‘Stros from 2015 to 2017. In the article, Fiers is quoted as saying, “They were advanced, and willing to go above and beyond to win.”

Naturally, the Astros declined to comment on the alleged cheating. MLB is presently investigating the accusations of sign stealing by the ‘Stros.

MLB rules forbid the use of cameras or other electronic equipment to steal signs. According to the article in the Athletic, a camera in center field picked up signs from the catcher of an opposing team and sent a video feed to a monitor in the tunnel behind the ‘Stros’ dugout.

After the signs were decoded, the pitch choices were communicated to hitters by a player or staff member banging on a trash can (no, I am not kidding) to reveal breaking balls or off-speed pitches.

Former pitcher and short-time Yankee, Danny Farquhar reported in the article that he noticed the banging noises during a September 2017 game at Minute Maid Park while with the Chicago White Sox. The banging sounds always occurred when his catcher called for a change-up.

How does the cheating by Houston affect the Yanks? In 2017 Aaron Judge came in second to the Astros’ Jose Altuve for AL MVP. I wonder how much better Judge’s stats would have been had he known what pitches were coming while batting half the time in Yankee Stadium.

Also, in a fiercely fought, back-and-forth ALCS in that same year, the Stros’ beat the Yankees 4-3 in the best-of-seven game series. All of the winner’s victories came at home. The Stros’ then went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, also in seven games, to win their first World Series title.

During the regular season, the Yanks only played three games at Minute Maid Park. The Bombers lost two of three games in Houston, which would not have affected home-field advantage in the ALCS.

Although this alleged case of cheating by the ‘Stros is different from Boone’s loss of AL MOY Award and LeMahieu’s mistreatment by AL MVP voters this year, it still represents another occurrence where the Yankees were victimized.

It also is possible that the cheating extended into the entire 2018 and 2019 regular seasons and the ALCS playoffs in which Houston played both years. Hopefully, we will find out if this was the case soon.