Clayton Kershaw believes he was naive not to change his signs when he pitched at Minute Maid Park in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series.
As Houston Astros fans remember, this was arguably one of the best baseball games ever played, and the 'stros beat the Dodgers 13-12 in 10 innings.
Each team had 14 hits, and the Astros overcame deficits of 4-0 and 7-4.
Kershaw was dealing early in his outing. By the fourth inning, the Astros had yet to put on a base runner and Kershaw seemed poised to lead the Dodgers to taking a 3-2 series lead on the road.
That's when it unraveled for the all-time great, as the Astros put on a clinic at the plate.
The Astros put up six runs on Kershaw, who at the time explained he lost his command in the fourth inning.
"And I didn’t do that in Houston. I used one sign. And I should have known. They were using multiple signs all the time."
Verducci mentioned that not only did Kershaw and catcher Austin Barnes stick with the same signs, they went with the well-known old school ones, too: one for fastball, two for curveball, three for slider.
Barnes sometimes added location for in or out, Verducci wrote.
Kershaw told Verducci the real-time, in-game use of technology to steal signs is what bothered him about the Astros. Kershaw balked at the notion other teams were doing something similarly egregious.
“I’m sure a lot of teams were going up to that line, but once (Houston) started doing it in real time and using technology in real time, that’s what separates it," Kershaw said.
"I’m sick of people saying that everybody was the same, that everybody was doing it. No. We weren’t all doing that. That was separated from everybody else."
The Dodgers have long been known around the league as one of the best at stealing signs, but mostly the legal way with a runner on second base.