There was a concern that the Houston Astros might have cheated in victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALCS. But those concerns appear to have been quelled.
A man who claimed to be an Astros employee was caught without a credential in the media area outside of the Red Sox dugout at Fenway Park. That initially led to some suspicion that the Astros might have been cheating.
But according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the league looked into this and the issue is not seen as a major one.
He was stopped from doing this. MLB does not consider this a major matter. Red Sox and Astros spokesman both said their teams declined further comment.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) October 17, 2018
In other words, one team used a spy to be sure that its opponent wasn’t using a spy. If you read this and think it resembles a Cold War era spy novel, know that you’re not alone.
The paranoia between these two teams has been an oft-discussed matter during this ALCS. Even if this incident is fairly minor and nothing significant comes from it, it’s certainly not going to do anything to halt the paranoia.
It will be really interesting to see what happens if this series gets to six or seven games.