The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Even Drellich dropped a bombshell report Tuesday, detailing how the Houston Astros cheated their way to the 2017 World Series title by using electronic equipment to steal signs. Among the teams potentially victimized by the Astros were the New York Yankees, who lost the American League Championship Series in seven games (and dismissed manager Joe Girardi after being eliminated).

Four people who were with the Astros in 2017, including pitcher Mike Fiers, said that during that season, the Astros stole signs during home games in real time with the aid of a camera positioned in the outfield. Now, an MLB investigation into the Astros’ culture in the wake of the team’s firing of assistant general manager Brandon Taubman could be expanded to determine who in the organization was aware of the sign-stealing practice — and whether it continued or evolved in subsequent seasons. The Athletic’s confirmation of rule-breaking by Houston is limited to 2017.

According to Rosenthal and Drellich, “Major League Baseball rules prohibit clubs from using electronic equipment to steal catchers’ signs and convey information. ... The Astros’ set-up required technical video knowledge and required the direct aid of at least some on the baseball operations staff, team sources said."

Here’s how the Astros’ system worked, per Rosenthal and Drellich:

The Astros’ set-up in 2017 was not overly complicated. A feed from a camera in center field, fixed on the opposing catcher’s signs, was hooked up to a television monitor that was placed on a wall steps from the team’s home dugout at Minute Maid Park, in the tunnel that runs between the dugout and the clubhouse. Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs — sitting opposite the screen on massage tables in a wide hallway. When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise — specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel. Normally, the bangs would mean a breaking ball or off-speed pitch was coming. Fiers, who confirmed the set-up, acknowledged he already has a strained relationship with the Astros because he relayed to his subsequent teams, the Tigers and A’s, what the Astros were doing.

The Athletic’s report includes an interview with Danny Farquhar, who spent part of the 2019 season in the Yankees’ minor league system. In 2017, Farquhar was pitching in Houston for the Chicago White Sox. “There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a changeup signal got put down. After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups and they were getting fouled off. After the third bang, I stepped off.”

According to Farquhar, he and the catcher changed signs and “the banging stopped. My assumption was they were picking it up from the video and relaying the signs to the dugout. … That was my theory on the whole thing. It made me very upset. I was so angry, so mad, that the media didn’t come to me after.”

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The sign-stealing allegation is the latest in what has become a string of questionable situations involving the Astros. In 2018, the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox found an Astros employee taking pictures near their dugouts. In the 2019 ALCS, the Yankees accused the Astros of stealing signs. According to Andy Martino of SNY, the Yankees believed that they busted the Astros making coded whistling sounds from their dugout to let their hitters know what pitches were coming in the series opener.

The Astros declined to comment before the The Athletic published its story. But after the report went online, the team provided a statement to Rosenthal.

Statement from #Astros: “Regarding the story posted by The Athletic earlier today, the Houston Astros organization has begun an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball. It would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time.”

Statement from #Astros: “Regarding the story posted by The Athletic earlier today, the Houston Astros organization has begun an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball. It would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time.” https://t.co/0BrDa77VTC — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 12, 2019

(NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller contributed to this report.)

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.