Astros against whistleblower

A’s pitcher Fiers revealed Houston’s sign-stealing ways

Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers rocked baseball when he revealed the Houston Astros’ signstealing scheme to The Athletic last year, saying that his former team used a camera in center field to steal signs and then banged on a trash can to let their hitters know which pitch the opposing catcher had signaled.

In a potentially awkward situation, Fiers could face the Astros in an ALDS starting Monday.

Fiers hasn’t been particularly effective this season, and didn’t start against them when the A’s took seven of 10 meetings this season.

“We never did anything in our rotation to make him miss the Astros,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

Fiers started the deciding Game 3 of the wild card series against Minnesota, but lasted just 12⁄

3 innings.

If Fiers is the opposing pitcher, Astros outfielder Josh Reddick says, it’s about the game.

“Whoever is out there, you try to treat it the same and don’t let your emotions get the best of you,” he said. “The best way we can control our emotions is going out there and beating him and beating that team as well.”

Nationals: Washington pitching coach Paul Menhart will not be brought back next season after working in the organization for 15 years. A team spokesman confirmed Sunday that the team would let Menhart go. His contract is up after this season. Menhart was the Nationals’ minor league pitching coordinator when he was brought up to work with the major league club in May 2019, replacing fired pitching coach Derek Lilliquist. The Nationals won the franchise’s first championship a year ago. But this pandemic-altered season was a struggle right from the get-go for manager Dave Martinez’s team, and Washington finished tied for last in the National League East with a 26-34 record.

No days off: Teams could play the Division Series over five straight days, take a single day off and then contest the League Championship Series on seven consecutive days. That could stress closers such as Aroldis Chapman, Liam Hendriks and Kenley Jansen, and starters like Gerrit Cole and Walker Buehler. No one has pitched in games for five straight days since Shawn Tolleson for Texas from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, 2015, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last to pitch for seven straight days was San Francisco’s Steve Kline from July 31 to Aug. 6, 2007.

Dodgers: Walker Buehler will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The question now: Will the righthander again be limited by a blister on his right index finger?