Bombshell Report Claims Red Sox Used Replay Room to Illegally Steal Signs During 2018 Title Season

The Houston Astros are not the only team that stole signs in their run to a World Series victory in recent years.

In an explosive report from The Athletic's Evan Drellich, it appears as if the Boston Red Sox used their video replay room to illegally steal signs in 2018, after pledging to MLB they'd cease such operations following the 2017 season, when the behavior was officially outlawed.

“It’s cheating,” one person who was with the Red Sox that year told Drellich. “If you’re using a camera to zoom in on the crotch of the catcher, to break down the sign system, and then take that information and give it out to the runner, then he doesn’t have to steal it.”

The replay room at Fenway is just steps away from the dugout and batting cage, which would have made it easy for Red Sox players to duck in for a moment during a game. Sources with the Red Sox claim that this system was not viable or effective during the postseason due to the heightened awareness of sign stealing (and intense paranoia throughout the game).

The system worked as follows. A player would head into the replay room and would be told the team's sign sequence by a staff member. The player would then relay that message to other players in person. When a Red Sox player was on base, they would then get the message told to them gestures made in the Boston dugout. The runner would then do something subtle to let the team know the message had been received.

It remains unclear if Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was in Houston during their 2017 championship and Boston's title run in 2018, had any involvement in orchestrating this scandal, but as the manager and overseer of the 25-man roster, it seems he didn't cease operations.

Regardless, this is a massive development, as the Red Sox could be subject to similar punishments to whatever the Astros are eventually tagged with.

This is a pockmark on the '18 record-setting season, any way you slice it.