The St. Louis Cardinals blew up the best pitcher in baseball to the tune of 8 hits and 8 runs over 6.2 innings in Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday. Was their noticeable and improbable offensive surge against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw aided by some old-fashioned sign stealing?
For the first six innings of the game, Kershaw never had to pitch out of the stretch. Outside of two solo home runs, he did not allow a hit, walk or hit batter. In the seventh, that all changed.
Kershaw allowed six hits and five runs in the seventh (and was charged with a sixth run after Pedro Baez surrendered a 3-run home run). Baez allowed a walk and 3-run home run to Matt Holliday.
The Cardinals went 6-for-8 with a walk and 8 RBIs when batting with a man on second in the 7th.
During the inning, both commentators Tom Verducci and Harold Reynolds suggested that the Cardinals were stealing signs from second and relaying them to the batter. Verducci even said something to the effect of, “[the Cardinals] will steal your lunch money and they will steal your signs.”
Sign-stealing accusations between the Dodgers and Cardinals in the playoffs would actually be nothing new. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said in December that he wondered if the Cardinals stole signs during last year’s NLCS, which the Cards won in six games.
Picking signs is nothing new in baseball and it’s debatable whether it’s even unethical. It’s part of the game and it’s up to the team to come up with better signs.
