Dodgers sign-stealing appears to be behind Matt Strahm's Game 1 disaster

With Shohei Ohtani on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1, most reasonable Philadelphia Phillies fans expected that there would be a pitchers' duel ongoing at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night to kick off the NLDS showdown. That was especially true with breakout star Cristopher Sanchez on the bump for the Phils. However, Rob Thomson's team found themselves unexpectedly in the driver's seat after putting up three runs on Ohtani and with Sanchez spinning an early gem.

That started to change when Sanchez gave up a two-run double in the sixth inning that cut their lead to one. Then, the Dodgers completely flipped the game with Matt Strahm coming in for relief after Dave Robertson put runners on first and second. Strahm recorded the first two outs, but then faced Teoscar Hernandez, who deposited a 1-0 fastball 394 feet into the right-center bleachers for the go-ahead and eventually game-winning three-run moonshot.

Now, obviously, there was more to blame for the Phillies losing Game 1 than just Strahm giving up the home run — but it certainly didn't help matters. And after further examination, that has to be even more frustrating to fans to digest, because the video seems to show that the Dodgers and Hernandez knew what pitch was coming before the home run.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Dodgers appear to have known Matt Strahm's pitches before game-winning HR

One Phillies fan, @BambieAK on X/Twitter, went back to the video to watch what happened before Strahm fired in the 91 mph fastball that Hernandez put into the seats. And as the Phillies left-hander went into his set, you can see Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages, who was on second base at the time, hold out his arm before Strahm went into his wind-up.

Take a look for yourself.

It's pretty clear, especially when you look at how Strahm is set up and with his glove clearly exposed to anyone who would be standing at second base, that the Dodgers and Pages noticed something about Strahm's grips and were relaying signs and pitch tips to the hitters at the plate. And while I'll be the first to admit that Strahm didn't do himself any favors with a 91 mph four-seam fastball right in Hernandez's sweet spot in the top-middle of the zone, that was only exacerbated by the fact that the Dodgers slugger knew what pitch was coming.

And the fact that no one on the Phillies noticed this only furthers the pain, though that won't sooth any of the angers toward the Dodgers for getting one up on Philadelphia with the biggest swing of the game.

Dodgers aren't doing anything illegal, but that won't stop the heat

As was the case when the Yankees came under fire for their ability to read signs and pitch tips when at second base, it needs to be said again that any stealing that the Dodgers are doing here is perfectly legal. There isn't an unfair advantage gained by any nefarious means — it's simply a case of gamesmanship that teams are more than allowed to take advantage of if they're opponents aren't going to do anything about it.

Having said that, the Yankees took heat (and still do) for getting the signs or tips from second base, and the Dodgers almost certainly will too. In fact, one could quite easily make the argument that any backlash against Los Angeles will actually be worse than it has been for other teams that have done similar things this season.

With the construction of this so-called super-team roster, the Dodgers are often held to a different standard. When you have a lineup that's comprised at the heart with three former MVPs and a star-studded cast around them while spending more than $1 billion (deferred), the benefit of the doubt is not something that you're going to get. Whether fair or unfair, the expectation will be that the team should be dominating on their talent alone every time they take the diamond.

So, for a playoff game to essentially be decided by stealing signs or reading pitch tips from second base, that's not going to go over well with MLB fans at large. It feels like a schoolyard bully who's already bigger than all of his classmates also choosing to sneak attack his next victim.

All that is to say, there wasn't exactly the highest league-wide regard for the Dodgers already, and something like this in Game 1 is only going to fuel the vitriol toward Dave Roberts' team — especially if we see it happen again.