Completely Conspicuous 529: Cheat to Win

I talk to Phil Stacey and Dave Olson about baseball's cheating scandal while we drive to a rock concert.

Show notes:

- Recorded on the way to see the Drive-By Truckers in Somerville, MA

- Not the first cheating scandal in MLB, but this has a different feel

- Houston Astros accused of stealing signs on the way to 2017 World Series

- Every team cheats in some way or another

- "If you're not cheating, you're not trying"

- Corked bats, scuffed pitches

- Baseballs were juiced last year to generate interest

- The sport is fading in popularity

- Too slow for short attention spans of today's society

- Steroids in the late '90s were ignored in favor of home run records

- Did the punishment fit the crime?

- Astros were fined and lost draft picks, but could have been worse

- MLB didn't expect this to blow up; former Astro revealed it in an interview

- Public reaction has been loud

- Two other teams have fired their managers who had connections to Astros that season

- Did MLB and the teams coordinate these actions?

- MLB wants this to go away and it's not

- Other teams and players are upset about it

- A pitcher sued because Astros lit him up and he was out of the majors

- Astros are going to be booed mercilessly all season on the road

- We don't know how much the sign stealing helped them

- Houston will get some big TV ratings this season

- Brought to you by Google Maps

- Altuve was a heroic figure, now tarnished

- MMA and pro wrestling are resonating with a younger generation

- A lot of baseball teams struggle to fill the seats

- Young kids would rather watch eSports, where other people play video games

- Easier to cheat in baseball or basketball

- Astros intern figured out how to steal signs and convinced management to adopt it

- Astros players should expect to get hit by a lot of pitches this season

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.