Snyder's Soapbox: Enough with baseball conspiracy theories about sign stealing and pitch tipping

Regular readers know that I write a Snyder's Soapbox every Tuesday during the Major League Baseball regular season and the offseason, but usually the column takes a short hiatus during the playoffs. There's enough going on and, frankly, I try to avoid being negative -- even in a joking manner -- during the most fun time of the year for our sport. 

Sometimes, though, things pop up. While I'm obviously enjoying the hell out of the playoffs so far -- notably the thrilling Game 5 between the Tigers and Mariners on Friday night/Saturday morning -- something has caused me to have plenty of "old man yells at clouds" moments, enough to warrant a surprise Soapbox.

Just in the first two rounds, we've been inundated with talk regarding sign stealing, pitch tipping or some combination thereof. Whatever you want to call it, we're talking about teams finding ways to know what pitch the pitcher is throwing, along with the location.

It makes sense that it's a topic of discussion and I'm not naive enough to believe that teams aren't looking for any advantage possible, nor am I suggesting they shouldn't. It's just incredibly annoying, especially the amateur sleuthing work that comes with it -- not to mention the accusations tossed at teams every time they have the audacity to have a big offensive game. 

Remember ALDS Game 4 at Detroit's Comerica Park? Josh Naylor of the Mariners was on second base and making all kinds of motions with his hands. The broadcast booth was going crazy about it, speculating about whether Naylor knew the pitches and was relaying them to the batter. The problem was, at one point, the pitcher threw three consecutive changeups in similar locations and Naylor had made a totally different arm motion before each. The only logical conclusion is that he had no idea what pitches were coming and was just trying to mess with the Tigers. 

If you glance around social media, you'll likely stumble upon footage of a fan or media member breaking down video and illustrating how a pitcher is tipping (that is, doing something that tips off the hitting team about which pitch he's throwing) or how a baserunner on second base is relaying signs. Sometimes they're probably right. A lot of times, they're most certainly wrong. 

As an example, Phillies reliever Matt Strahm responded to allegations that he was tipping: 

Again, as Strahm pointed out, the baserunner's actions don't line up with relaying specific signs or locations. People are just out here making stuff up. And though some might say Strahm shouldn't be mixing it up on social media, he's taking accountability for getting beat. This is akin to saying, "No excuses, he just beat me straight up, fair and square." 

This obviously wasn't even close to the only case. We've got people out here breaking down basically every home run in the playoffs. And every time there's a runner on second, it's a race to see who can do the best breakdown of how the runner is relaying signs to the batter. Yes, sometimes it happens. Sometimes a runner just looks back at second base to check his distance and looks the other way to see where the defenders are.

This isn't cameras in center field. There are no trash cans. If the runner on second base can pick up the signs and relay them to his hitter in time to matter, that's on the battery. If a pitcher is tipping, that's on him. Do better. It's not illegal. It's a failure of the pitcher and catcher.

In terms of actual sign stealing, this is very Pollyanna of me, but it sure would be nice if the players just played. You know? Let's drop all the shenanigans and play the opponent straight up, trying to win the battle by just being better players. 

I'm aware that this is too much to ask. I'm aware that if I were a player, I'd be involved in trying to get the signs, too, because winning is the most important thing. 

I'm just exhausted by the entire conversation. Just play baseball and just let me watch baseball.