Major League Baseball has often been linked with controversy. In 1919, members of the Chicago White Sox intentionally lost the World Series for money. Throughout the ’80’s, cocaine was running rampant through clubhouses. In the ’90’s and early 2000s, amazing feats were performed and unbreakable records were achieved, but many those records come with an asterisk thanks to the use of steroids.

The way teams cheat in baseball has taken many different forms since the MLB was founded in 1869. The Houston Astros, and potentially other teams, are just the latest in a long succession of cheaters.

The Astros lost in the World Series last season to the Nationals, but by all accounts were in line to becoming a dynasty in the MLB.

A mix of homegrown talent (Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa) and trades (Zach Greinke, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole to name a few) helped the Astros win their first ever World Series in 2017 and seemed to set them up for years of success to come.

That was until Evan Drellich’s story with the Athletic was released, in which former Astro Mike Friers claims that the Astros illegally stole signs from opposing pitchers/catchers. The process involved a secondary party watching the catcher’s signals and relaying to the batter what was about to come, via banging on a trashcan.

The MLB found the Astros guilty after an investigation, fining the team $5 million, revoking draft picks and placing the team’s manager on a year-long suspension (he was shortly thereafter fired).

The stats from the Astros 2017 World Series run are all the evidence needed to see that they were up to something:

At home, Jose Altuve had a batting average of .472 while putting together an insane 1.541 OPS (on base+slugging percentage) but on the road, where the Astros could not implement their cheating system, Altuve only batted .143 and had an OPS of .497.

Atluve is not the lone ‘Stro to slump on the road. Bregman batted .273 in Houston and .154 away. Brian McCann had possibly the biggest difference, batting an impressive .300 at home while only hitting .037 on the road.

These numbers depict more than a home field advantage, but rather a clear edge over opposing teams.

It would be naive to think that Houston is the only team cheating in the MLB, but as it stands, they’re the only team to get caught.

As history has shown, teams and players will continue to look for a competitive edge over their opponents one way or another. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s punishment might stop the Astros from sign stealing, but as the Red Sox and other teams have shown, trash cans aren’t the only way to cheat in baseball.