MLB news: Mookie Betts talks Red Sox sign stealing, Willson Contreras has the Cubs on his mind, Gerrit Cole talks Yankees pressure.
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts has, obviously, moved on from the Boston Red Sox. However, Betts did win a World Series with that Boston team in 2018, ironically enough over Los Angeles.
Boston won in five games, but in the years since then it was revealed the Red Sox used sign stealing that season. In a story published in the Los Angeles Times, Betts admitted that the Red Sox were in the know about how they were cheating the system. Here’s an excerpt from the LA Times article:
"“Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, who was on the 2018 Red Sox, acknowledged that he was aware his team was using live video feeds to stealing signs.However, Betts said the Red Sox didn’t use the sign-stealing system in the World Series against the Dodgers. The Red Sox batted .353 with runners in scoring position in the series, which they won, four games to one. The Red Sox were found by the commissioner’s office to have employed the illegal sign-stealing program only in the 2018 regular season, as the investigation uncovered insufficient evidence to conclude they also cheated in the 2018 playoffs or the 2019 regular season.”"
Red Sox sign-stealing scandal: Mookie Betts knew
Per Rob Manfred, the Red Sox cheated by sending signal from their replay room of the other team’s signs. This, of course, was illegal, and per Mookie Betts, Boston players knew of their wrongdoing. This is new, as previously it was unclear exactly how much Red Sox players knew.
Betts did say that the Red Sox didn’t employ the system in their World Series win over the Dodgers. That hasn’t been proven in either direction.
While Boston’s transgressions don’t compare to the Astros, as there’s no evidence it was used in live at-bats or that the system itself was as complex as Houston’s, it does show that sign stealing as a whole was far more systemic than previously thought.