In a heated National League Championship Series, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal has called out the Chicago Cubs for stealing signs. Currently, the Cubs and Dodgers’ series is tied 1-1.
Game 2 of the NLCS went pretty smoothly for Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal. Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen pitched a magnificent game against the Chicago Cubs and only allowed one runner to reach season base.
However, Game 3 of the NLCS may be a different story. Grandal says that not only are the Cubs stealing the Dodgers’ signs, but that he knows for a fact that they are.
During a post-game interview after the Dodgers win, Grandal was asked about sign-stealing. He brought up the eighth inning of Game 1 as an example. During that inning, Joe Blanton was pitching, Addison Russell was at the plate, and Ben Zobrist was on second base.
“All the sudden, Russell is not taking good swings at sliders, looking like he’s looking for a fastball and in a certain location,” Grandal said. “Did we know Zobrist had the signs and was doing something for it? Yeah, we did …
“We are literally paranoid when it comes to men on second and they are trying to get signs. We know who is getting the signs. We know what they’re doing. We know what they do to get it.
“In the playoffs, one relayed sign could mean the difference between winning the World Series and not getting there. That’s why we have four or five different sets of signs, and we’re constantly changing.”
However, Grandal did not seem upset or irritated about it. If the Cubs are stealing signs and the Dodgers know about it, there shouldn’t be any issues. Like Grandal said, the Dodgers could use multiple sets of signs and even be able to change them from game to game.
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But it will be interesting to keep an eye on going forward to see if there is any miscommunication between Grandal and a pitcher. Or maybe the Cubs are just in Grandal’s head.