Cardinals Hack Astros: FBI Investigates St. Louis Cardinals For Stealing Player Information
Cardinals hacking the Astros? It sounds like a story out of the movies. The FBI is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking into the player personnel of the Houston Astros. A report from the New York Times on Tuesday (June 16) sheds some light on what is quickly becoming a public relations nightmare for the Cardinals. If the charges turn out to be true, the franchise could take a social hit in the same fashion that the New England Patriots did when they were accused of filming other teams.
At the heart of this investigation appears to be evidence that officials working for the Cardinals broke into a network that housed information for the Houston Astros. The New York Times reported that these databases housed “internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics, and scouting reports.” None of this breaking news is good, and it is highly likely that it could lead to jail time if any of the culprits are found guilty.
The focus of the investigation is reportedly on specific people within the Cardinals’ organization, but the FBI hasn’t released any names just yet. A statement from Major League Baseball will likely come out soon, as well, but it isn’t expected to say anything other than the fact that MLB knows an investigation is taking place. MLB will want to be careful, though, as the league doesn’t want to take the P.R. hit that the NFL has been going through lately with teams skirting the rules.
As previously reported on the Inquisitr, the New England Patriots received a stiff fine and lost draft picks due to an investigation into the team and how it may have deflated footballs before games. It followed controversies that the team had filmed practices of other teams in order to gain a competitive advantage. In that same fashion, if the Cardinals employees did attain the private player information of the Astros as it is claimed, that is a huge breach in not only the written, but also the unwritten, rules of baseball. MLB could be very stiff in leveling penalties in that regard.
Currently, the St. Louis Cardinals have the best record in baseball (by far) at 42-21. The team is having another special season and looks to be heading straight for the 2015 MLB Playoffs. Now, the accusations of hacking taking place is going to derail the positive image that the team has had for years. It could also be very interesting to hear what the Astros have to say about this and if there is even more to the case than what the FBI has revealed so far. To put it bluntly, the Cardinals could be in a lot of trouble as an organization, even if top officials didn’t implicitly know what was taking place.
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