Advanced scouting didn’t beat Cleveland Indians, Astros look like cheaters

The Cleveland Indians raved at the Houston Astros “advanced scouting” in their sweep out of the ALDS. Wrong! It looks as if Houston was cheating!

The Cleveland Indians are being regarded as whistleblowers as news has broke that the Houston Astros were trying to cheat in the ALCS.

Apparently, the Indians noticed some fishy behavior during their one ALDS Game at Progressive Field.

The Tribe warned the Red Sox about a man named Kyle McLaughlin taking pictures of the Indians dugout in an apparent effort to steal signs, according to a story from Yahoo Sports. The A’s complained about something similar back in August.

Here’s a picture of the man, known as McLaughlin, posted to Twitter by Yahoo’s Jeff Passan.

To further balloon the gray cloud hanging over this scandal, McLaughlin isn’t listed as an Astros’ employee, yet he was wearing an Astros’ ID tag with Houston owner Jim Crane during a 2016 Instagram photo, which as since been deleted, according to Passan.

Indians starter Trevor Bauer, who had a rough go of things in the Game 3 loss, took to Twitter to give his opinion on the Astros’ latest scandal. Back in May, Bauer had accused Houston of cheating.

Specifically, he accused Houston of using illegal methods to increase the spin rate on their pitches.

Stealing signs is nothing new in the game of baseball, but the way the Astros are doing it should incur some kind of penalty.

It makes you wonder how much of an impact their cheating had on the outcome of the ALDS, where the Indians were made to look like the 100-loss Baltimore Orioles.

Following their elimination, players complained about the Astros being more prepared, especially in the department of analytics. Cleveland players seemed to marvel at Houston’s “advanced scouting.”

Say what you what to about analytics, but if you know what the other team is going to do, you’ve certainly given yourself a great advantage.

The latest report brings up serious “integrity of the game” issues. You’ve heard that line before. It’s what Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for. If the public can’t trust the product on the field, then MLB has serious issues.

I know I’ve got some questions. As just one member of the sellout crowd, I’d sure like to know whether the Indians’ beating was legit, or facilitated through the help of cheating.