Photo by Harry How/Getty ImagesWho knew the New England Patriots also played baseball?
In what can only be described as Watergate and Spygate (and maybe even a little Deflategate since it involves a sport with balls) all rolled into one, it was announced that baseball's most storied franchise is being investigated for hacking another team to gain a competitive advantage.
The New York Times revealed the FBI and the Justice Department are looking into the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking into an internal network of the Houston Astros in an effort to get top secret information on player personnel including trades, statistics and scouting reports.
Law enforcement officials told the Times they believed the hacking was done by vindictive Cardinals front-office employees who used a master list of passwords of former Cardinals' employees who now work for the Astros to hack into the system known as "Ground Control," which is the Astros top secret network of information. The Cardinals also have a database of information called "Redbird."
In a statement to E! News, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfried's office says, "Major League Baseball has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros' baseball operations database. Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly."
What makes this all the more interesting is it involves the Astros, who up until this season have been the doormat of baseball franchises. Since last making the playoffs in 2005, the Astros have been one of baseball's worst teams with a record of 623-834 from 2006-2014.The Astros have turned it around (thank you, Ground Control) and are currently in first place in the American League West thanks in large part to current general manager (and former Cardinals executive) Jeff Luhnow.
The Cardinals certainly aren't the only storied franchise who have been accused of cheating. "Spygate" was famously coined after the New England Patriots were caught illegally taping the New York Jets' defensive signals during a game back in 2007. And let's not forget last winter when we heard ad nauseam how Tom Brady liked his balls during the Deflategate scandal. The Patriots went on to win the 2015 Super Bowl during the scandal. The Cardinals, meanwhile, currently have the best record in baseball this season.