The Houston Astros are back in the spotlight for their 2017 sign-stealing scandal thanks to the new book “Winning Fixes Everything,” by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, but the Los Angeles Dodgers were also the subject of accusations.
In the book, various anonymous sources accuse the Dodgers of using their own illegal sign-stealing scheme around the same time. One of the allegations claims the Dodgers set up cameras in center field at Dodger Stadium during the 2017 World Series that were connected to an iPad and allowed players to decode the opposing catcher’s signs.
In addition, one anonymous member of the 2017 Dodgers team said the club did use a baserunner scheme with help from their video room to watch sign sequences, similar to what the Boston Red Sox were punished for in 2018.
When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about this, he became upset and denied the report, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“I want to know who that anonymous person is,” he said. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Roberts did confirm the Dodgers were among the teams investigated by MLB for alleged sign-stealing, but the league did not find any evidence of such claims. The Astros and Red Sox were the only clubs to be punished by MLB for their sign-stealing systems after the league investigated them and found evidence of their cheating.
When recently discussing the Red Sox stealing signs in 2018, Mookie Bets said the team did not do so against the Dodgers in the World Series.
Dodgers accused of cheating
Despite MLB clearing the Dodgers, they have continued to be accused by players around the league, most notably from Josh Reddick and Logan Morrison.
In Drellich’s book, multiple Red Sox players also accuse the Dodgers of cheating, and in 2019, members of the New York Mets suggested L.A. was stealing signs and/or had assistance from some type of surveillance system.
“To be quite honest, I really don’t care what they think,” Roberts said at the time. “I know we play within the constructs of the rules and we prepare really well, we have really good players and we compete every pitch. To think we’re doing any undercover-op, wow. I don’t know.”
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