The Houston Astros, an MLB team from Texas, have undoubtedly been successful in the past few years, winning two World Series championships just two years apart. Unfortunately, they were recently exposed for cheating, which has ruined their brand.

In baseball and softball, signs are usually used when hitting and on defense when pitchers and catchers are communicating non-verbally about what pitch is coming next. Generally, a combination of numbers is used to define the oncoming pitch in a way that is difficult for the opposing team to pick up on. The team on offense will often try to catch onto the signs, but the angle of the dugout or strategic placement of the catchers’ hand makes it difficult.

The Astros were found guilty of using cameras to see pitch calls from opposing teams. They had a camera in center-field angled to read the catcher’s signs, and they were relayed to the players in the dugout who communicated the pitch to the batter by banging on a trash can in a specific rhythm. This gave the hitter a clear advantage over the opposing team and pitcher.

I agree the Astros took the whole idea of sign stealing to extreme levels. However, even though I am not particularly an Astros fan, I don’t believe this should have become a scandal that ruined the Astros name.

As someone who’s played softball for ten years now, I can confidently say that sign stealing is normal. Each team wants to take advantage of anything they can, and although a lot of people don’t want to hear it, most teams do this. Any tips telling the batter where the ball will be can be a game-changer. In select, club, or high school sports, this isn’t illegal or turned into a scandal.

I think that the prior negative light shone on the Astros is the reason this whole incident blew up. People were already against the Astros brand. They haven’t shown the most sportsmanship, and they are known for doing whatever it takes to win, hence the sign stealing. Regardless of their reputation or past incidents, it shouldn’t have caused this normally innocent way of gaining a competitive edge to blow up this severely.

I understand the Astros probably took it too far by using cameras, but there is nothing against stealing signs from the opposing team in the written rules of baseball. If they choose to make a rule now due to the Astros being a little too competitive, I can understand that. But until there is a written rule, what the Astros did is technically not unethical, and was blown up unnecessarily.