Bang the Can

Astros sign stealing, 2017. You run a contending baseball club. Your video room has a camera on the opposing catcher, and someone has found a trash can.

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Astros sign stealing: what actually happened

Scandal Run plays 10 decisions inside Astros sign stealing, 2017. Your choices are invented; the record below is not. Each line quotes the MrScandal story and names its source, in the order it happened.

Show the real record (10 moments, spoilers)

Spring 2017 At the start of the 2017 season, employees in the Astros' video replay room began using the live centre-field camera feed to decode opposing catchers' signs. Source: MLB Commissioner's statement, January 13, 2020.
2017 season Players watched a monitor outside the dugout and banged a trash can with a bat to tell the batter what was coming. Commissioner Rob Manfred called the banging scheme "player-driven." Source: MLB Commissioner's statement.
Summer 2017 Manfred wrote that manager A. J. Hinch had "full knowledge" of the conduct and let it continue through the 2017 postseason. Hinch said: "I failed to stop them and I am deeply sorry." Source: MLB Commissioner's statement, statement from A. J. Hinch.
August 4, 2017 Pitcher Mike Bolsinger says the Astros knew his pitches on August 4, 2017, the night he was cut from the Blue Jays' 40-man roster. His lawsuit counts bangs on 12 of his 29 pitches. Source: USA Today.
October 2017 Manfred wrote that his investigation found no evidence that Astros owner Jim Crane knew of the scheme. Source: MLB Commissioner's statement.
Two years later The Wall Street Journal reported the league had offered players immunity in exchange for their cooperation. No players were punished: Manfred said discipline would be "difficult and impractical." Source: The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post.
January 13, 2020 MLB fined the Astros $5 million, the maximum under the MLB Constitution, took their first- and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021, and suspended manager A. J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for the 2020 season. Source: USA Today, Sports Illustrated.
An hour later Owner Jim Crane fired Hinch and Luhnow about an hour after the announcement, saying: "Neither one of them started this, but neither one of them did anything about it." Source: ESPN.
February 10, 2020 Mike Bolsinger sued in Los Angeles Superior Court and wanted the roughly $31 million in 2017 postseason bonuses donated to charity. The first case was dismissed; a judge said there was "no single contact between California and this case." He refiled. Source: USA Today, Bleacher Report.
November 2020 Jeff Luhnow said "I am not a cheater," but Manfred found he "had some knowledge" and "did not give it much attention." On November 9, 2020, Luhnow sued the Astros, saying he was made the scapegoat so the team could avoid paying more than $22 million in guaranteed salary. Source: MLB Commissioner's statement, Los Angeles Times.

Read the full case with every receipt: The full Astros sign-stealing story. Desk editor: Gustavs Ērkšķis-Kreicbergs.

A game. Your choices and their outcomes are made up and the player is not a real person. Every "What actually happened" panel quotes the record in the MrScandal story and names its source.