Why the Red Sox's alleged sign-stealing doesn't compare to the Astros' cheating scandal

As the Houston Astros were embroiled in a multiyear cheating scandal, it seemed inevitable that other big-league clubs would get drawn into controversy. And on Tuesday, it happened.

According to a report from The Athletic, the Boston Red Sox utilized their replay room — the room meant to assist managers decide on in-game replay challenges — to steal signs from the opposing catcher during the 2018 World Series season. The report cites unnamed Red Sox sources who claimed that players would visit the room during games, watch the catcher’s sign sequence and decode those signs to be communicated to the dugout.

The Red Sox were reprimanded for a similar misuse of the replay room in 2017, but starting in 2018, MLB strictly prohibited the use of the replay room to steal signs.

But let’s not compare the Red Sox’s alleged sign-stealing tactics to the Astros’ cheating scandal. They aren’t even in the same ballpark.

As noted in the initial Athletic report, the Astros stole signs in realtime with the help of an employee watching a live feed in a back room. That employee would bang on a trashcan to signify an off-speed pitch to the Astros hitters, and the tactics likely fueled Houston’s unprecedented in-season improvement in batted-ball rate. It was brazen, clearly against the rules and worked even when the bases were empty.

This Red Sox report, though, paints a far different picture of a system that wasn’t even effective during the postseason. Via The Athletic:

Three people who were with the Red Sox during their 108-win 2018 season told The Athletic that during that regular season, at least some players visited the video replay room during games to learn the sign sequence opponents were using. The replay room is just steps from the home dugout at Fenway Park, through the same doors that lead to the batting cage. Every team’s replay staff travels to road games, making the system viable in other parks as well.

Red Sox sources said this system did not appear to be effective or even viable during the 2018 postseason, when the Red Sox went on to win the World Series. Opponents were leery enough of sign stealing — and knowledgeable enough about it — to constantly change their sign sequences. And, for the first time in the sport’s history, MLB instituted in-person monitors in the replay rooms, starting in the playoffs. For the entire regular season, those rooms had been left unguarded.

But really, for this tactic to even work to any degree, the Red Sox player would have to accurately decode the signal sequence, communicate that sequence to the dugout and only be able to utilize it when there’s a runner on second. Plus, teams have often used a runner on second to try to communicate signs to the batter — just as opposing teams are prepared to combat that tactic. These sequences can change by inning, too.

This isn’t to say that what the Red Sox reportedly did was fine: It’s still against the rules. But there’s a huge difference between decoding signs after the fact and relaying signs to the hitter off a live feed.

It’s not even a comparison.