Dodgers' Max Muncy Believes Astros Stole Signs During 18-1 Loss

Dodgers’ Max Muncy Believes Astros Stole Signs During 18-1 Loss originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros have an intense history over the last decade, meeting in the World Series in 2017, and one of the two teams representing their respective leagues in the Fall Classic in seven of the previous eight years.

However, with greatness has come a great divide between the two franchises, propelled by the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in their 2017 World Series championship over the Dodgers.

With the scandal in the past, the Astros winning the World Series again in 2022, and the Dodgers getting their title last year, things had died down between the two teams before they met for their lone matchup of 2025 last weekend.

The Astros entered Dodger Stadium and boat-raced the defending champs with a three-game sweep. The Astros opened the series Friday night with an offensive explosion, winning 18-1. With a 6-4 win on Saturday and a 5-1 win on Sunday, the Astros outscored the Dodgers 29-6 in the series.

However, in Friday night’s blowout, Dodgers’ infielder Max Muncy believes the Astros were stealing the Dodgers’ signs, except this time legally.

“Do I think they know what was coming? Yes I do. Do I think they were cheating to get there? No, I think they had a tip on the pitcher and that’s on us to clean that up,” Muncy said on a recent appearance on Foul Territory. “That’s not cheating. That’s part of the game. Good teams are going to do that. So yes, I think they knew what was coming, but it wasn’t because they were cheating.

“This is a guy who was throwing 97, 98 with a wicked slider. We’ve seen him dominate a lot of teams. For there to be no flinching, that kind of throws up a red flag that they might have something on him.”

The Dodgers’ starter Friday night was pitcher Ben Casparius, and he’d been having a pretty intense season for Los Angeles. In his start before the one against the Astros, Casparius gave up six runs across three innings. However, before that, he had a 3.25 ERA with a WHIP just over one on the season.

Friday against the Astros, Casparius gave up six runs on nine hits, including three home runs, over just three innings. The outing did seem like an outlier for the Dodgers’ pitcher, and Muncy may be right about the starter tipping his pitches. However, Muncy said it’s part of the game and credited the Astros for figuring it out.

Houston Astros designated hitter Isaac Paredes (15) hits a double against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of the game at Dodger Stadium.Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

“We’ve addressed it, we’ve cleaned it up — hopefully — and it’s one of those things where you have to always be careful about what you’re doing out there. You don’t want to give anything away to the other team. That’s something we take advantage of a lot of times,” Muncy said. “You have to find a way to clean that up. That’s not cheating. That’s part of the game. That’s being a smart baseball player, is what that is. We’ve got to find a way to look at it. We have a lot of guys who are really good at that stuff.”

Last weekend’s series was the only time the Dodgers and Astros met this season, unless the two powerhouses meet again in the World Series. Both teams currently sit atop their division, and I don’t think anyone would be surprised if 2025 presented a rematch of 2017.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.

Dodgers’ Max Muncy Believes Astros Stole Signs During 18-1 Loss

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