Mookie Betts nonchalantly admits the Red Sox were cheaters, too

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts said that the Boston Red Sox did steal signs during the 2018 regular season.

The Boston Red Sox were involved in a sign-stealing scandal of their own in the 2018 season, by using a video replay room. MLB investigated it, and suspended video replay coordinator J.T. Watkins. Now, Watkins now has a new job, and that’s with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He will now reunite with former Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, but also set up the Dodgers’ hitting game plans.

While speaking with Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, Betts admitted that the Red Sox did use video replay to steal signs in the 2018 season and that “everybody was” aware. When asked about how frequently the Red Sox used this tactic, Betts said ““Every now and …it’s kind of hard to remember,” h/t the Los Angeles Times.

Mookie Betts admits that Red Sox did steal signs, albeit infrequently, in 2018 regular season

Betts stressed that while Boston did use the video replay room to steal signs, it wasn’t used frequently throughout the 2018 regular season and they didn’t use it in that year’s World Series against the Dodgers. In that Fall Classic, the Red Sox defeated the Dodgers in five games to win their ninth World Series title. In fact, Betts still wants the Red Sox to get credit for their win, considering the talent they had on that team.

“This is what I’m trying to say. People are trying to make it like we’re cheating. Give us credit,” said Betts. “We had a good team. Give us some credit. We had Cy Young winners. We had MVPs. We had Gold Glove winners. We had Silver Sluggers. We had all that. Take that into account.”

In MLB’s investigative report, they found Watkins guilty of the sign-stealing method, and was suspended for the 2020 season. Commissioner Rob Manfred stated in the report that manager Alex Cora, the front office, and most of the players didn’t know of Watkins’ sign-stealing method. Specifically, Manfred said, “communication of these violations was episodic and isolated to Watkins and a limited number of Red Sox players only.”

Betts did confirm what was reported in The Athletic’s Evan Drellich’s book, “Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess,” which was that Red Sox players gave Watkins money during his suspension.

After the 2019 season, Betts was traded to the Dodgers, where he then signed a 12-year, $365 million contract extension. In his first season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won the World Series, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games.

Betts was open about the Boston scandal, but wanted to let everyone know that they use the video replay room to steal signs infrequently and not in the 2018 World Series.