St. Louis Cardinals May Have Hacked the Astros, FBI Probe Finds

St. Louis Cardinals employees may have hacked into the Houston Astros’ internal networks, according to an FBI probe.

The New York Times, citing anonymous officials, reports that the Cardinals, who have the best record in Major League Baseball this year (42-21), are under investigation for accessing an Astros network that held information about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports.

The teams have long been division rivals, but the tension between the two heated up after the Astros hired general manager Jeff Luhnow. Luhnow previously served as a “polarizing” official for the Cardinals, the Times reported.

Investigators believe Cardinals employees used a master list of passwords previously employed by Luhnow when he worked for the Cardinals to hack into the system. Ten months of Astros’ internal trade talks were leaked online last year, which sparked the investigation.

No Cardinals officials have been put on leave, suspended or fired. The MLB was “aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database,” according to a statement MLB posted online. “Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly.”

The Cardinals released a statement Tuesday saying they, too, were aware of the investigation and cooperating with it, CNBC reported.

This marks the first known case of a professional sports team hacking another’s network. The Cardinals have 11 World Series titles, second only to the New York Yankees, and have reached the National League Championship Series nine times since 2000. Owner Bill DeWitt was in charge of the search committee last year for a new MLB commissioner.

[New York Times]