In an ironic twist of fate, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom believes that his pitchers may inadvertently be tipping pitches off to Red Sox batters.
Losing teams painfully reflect on losses and resolve to play better.
Then there’s teams like the Chicago White Sox, where reliever Ryan Tepera accused the Astros of stealing signs again in their first two ALDS wins.
The claims were unfounded and the White Sox were promptly defeated, but the notion that one team has an edge over the other still persists in the Astros series. This time, they’re on the receiving end of it.
The Red Sox are doing so well in the ALCS, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal describes the team as if they’re “popping grand slams as if they’re daily vitamins.” Perhaps the reason for their success if that Astros pitchers are tipping off what they’re going to throw, and Red Sox batters are reading their tells just right.
There’s nothing illegal about it: it’s just good baseball coached by the great Alex Cora.
Astros pitching coach Brent Strom believes his pitchers may be tipping pitches to Red Sox batters
Strom expanded on his potential tipping theory, explaining that former Astros bench coach Alex Cora is just the kind of person who could pick up on those subtleties.
"“This is a very good hitting team, and they’re very adept at picking up little things, much more so than most teams. We need to be very cognizant of the little things, tipping-type things, things like that, that they’re very astute at. We’ve just gotten behind hitters. We have to re-evaluate and see if they’re seeing things that are maybe tipping the scales a little bit in their favor. These are veteran (hitters). And of course, they have the ultimate guy (Alex Cora) as their manager, who … he’s just very good at it. We just have to do a better job of watching what our pitchers do and getting ahead in the count.”"
Cora’s prolific baseball mind was talked about when he was a player, and he’s certainly being discussed as one of the most brilliant managers in MLB history. Cora’s postseason record is now 17-5, the most wins by a manager ever in their first 22 playoff games.
To Strom’s theory, he believes the Red Sox are reading based on the pitches they lay off rather than what they take. Astros shortstop Carlos Correa doesn’t agree with Strom, but instead believes the Astros just need to do a better job at pitching.
“If they have our pitches, we’ve got to do a better job. I don’t think they do,” Correa said. “It’s fun to watch as a fan of the sport, see how everybody in the lineup has the same approach. They’re not chasing. They’re staying in the zone. They’re not swinging at borderline pitches. It’s beautiful what they’re doing. We’ve got to find a way to throw more strikes and keep the ball in the ballpark.”