Apple Watch Helped Red Sox ‘Cheat’

Boston baseball team accused of using tech to beat New York Yankees. 

Major league baseball  – like mot other professional sports – has its ups and downs when it comes to scandals, but this one might be the most ridiculous one since the infamous New England Patriots “deflategate” fiasco. The Boston Red Sox have been accused of using technology to cheat during a three-game series with the New York Yankees back in August.

The “cheating” in this case is odd because it’s only cheating if there’s technology involved. In this specific instance, the Red Sox are accused of using an Apple Watch to inform batters which type of pitch is coming next. Had the information somehow been shared without technology – say, with colored cards that someone in the stands held up after discovering the called for themselves, completely unaided by something as simple as binoculars – that would just be part of how the game is played.

Baseball… A simple game of bat, ball, and high-tech shenanigans.

Real-time updates

Instead, someone in the area was watching a camera feed of the catcher in order to see which hand signal he gave the pitcher. That information was then relayed to the dugout via an Apple Watch and passed on to the batter in real-time so he could anticipate the type of pitch and adjust for it.

A Major League Baseball (MLB) investigation will now review footage of previous games this season to see if there’s reason to believe the Red Sox havecheated in this manner in other games. Right now, Boston’s team is at the top of the American League Eastern division standings, but that could change if the team is forced to forfeit any game where evidence of cheating is compelling.

Camera+smartphone=win?

Just because there are almost always two sides to every story, the Boston Red Sox team officials have turned over footage to the MLB…of the Yankees cheating in almost exactly the same way. The Yankees are accused of using a YES Network camera to spy on the Red Sox pitches prior to the throw and relaying that information to batters through a training staff members’ smartphone.