Report: Red Sox used replay room to illegally steal signs in 2018

Major League Baseball's sign-stealing scandal continues to widen.

The Boston Red Sox used video replay rooms to steal signs illegally during the 2018 regular season, three people who were with the team that year told Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

The method didn't appear to be effective during the postseason when the Red Sox won the World Series, club sources told Rosenthal and Drellich. An MLB official was monitoring replay rooms then.

The rooms weren't monitored during the regular season when the Red Sox led MLB in runs scored and fielded one of the top offenses in the league.

Players from Boston's bench would visit a replay room located steps away from the home dugout at Fenway Park where a staff member would give them sign sequences.

The player would then pass the sequence along to the dugout, and that information would be relayed to a baserunner. Finally, the baserunner would watch the catcher's signs and tell the hitter what pitch was coming next with body movements.

Before the 2018 season, MLB made it clear replay rooms couldn't be used to steal signs.

"Electronic equipment, including game feeds in the club replay room and/or video room, may never be used during a game for the purpose of stealing the opposing team’s signs," the league said in a memo.

The Red Sox issued a statement addressing the report.

"We were recently made aware of allegations suggesting the inappropriate use of our video replay room. We take these allegations seriously and will fully cooperate with MLB as they investigate the matter," the team said, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

This wouldn't be the first time the Red Sox used technology to get a leg up.

The Red Sox and New York Yankees were fined in 2017 after they were both accused of using technology to relay and steal signs.

The Yankees complained that the Red Sox used an Apple Watch in the dugout to relay signs, while Boston countered by accusing the Yankees of using YES Network cameras to do the same.

The report regarding the Red Sox from The Athletic comes while the league is investigating the Houston Astros for also allegedly stealing signs electronically in 2017.