Everyone points out that the Washington Nationals were victorious in the 2019 World Series against the sign-stealing Houston Astros. Especially those who were Dodgers backers in 2017, when the Astros were reportedly at their very worst.
So how did the Nationals get past the Astros, winning all four games at booby-trapped Minute Maid Park? Nationals’ reliever Daniel Hudson went on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM to talk about how Washington had a plan to counteract sign-stealing. Have a listen.
Daniel Hudson: The #Nationals had a plan to prevent sign stealing in the World Series, just in case. pic.twitter.com/pDcbPYeU41
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) January 19, 2020
Here’s what Hudson says about it:
“Throughout baseball, stuff like that goes on. Certain organizations may or may not be doing this. We just try to be as proactive as we could. We had a meeting where we sat down with our catchers, and had five different sets of signs. Our video guys were awesome. We figured out a system where a catcher taps his glove a couple times, we switched the signs. Everyone had an index card in their back pocket. If the catcher tapped his glove they checked their index card. The catcher would also come out and tap his mask – that meant new set of signs. It was trying to combat the sign-stealing and also trying to prevent the catcher using mound visits.”
Now, it’s worth pointing out that the Nationals aren’t the only team who mixed things up against Houston. For example, Alex Wood of the Los Angeles Dodgers has said that in the 2017 World Series when he defeated the Astros; he was changing the signs every third pitch.
Still, this is part of the story about how the ‘mighty’ Astros were defeated in 2019. And good for the Nationals in out-smarting the tricksters.
