One day toward the end of last year, Tony Adams sat down and started to craft a computer program that would do the unthinkable. It would prove that the Houston Astros — the same Houston Astros he had rooted for since 1977 — were cheaters.
What followed is perhaps the most methodical dive into the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal we’ve seen, and certainly the most methodical by an Astros fan. He listened to every pitch to an Astros batter in 58 home games, every game he could find audio for in 2017. That was 8,274 pitches he scoured, trying to find the banging noise that Astros hitters used to signal to their teammates in their now infamous cheating scheme.