In the category of this-could-be-an-80s-spy-movie events, Major League Baseball responded Tuesday to a report that the St. Louis Cardinals hacked into the Houston Astros' team database.
“Major League Baseball has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database," a statement issued by the league said.
MLB said that following an investigation by the FBI, which is currently ongoing, it will "evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly.”
Both the Cardinals and Astros released a separate statements Tuesday noting that each are cooperating with the investigations, but could not comment further.
The statements come after a New York Times report published Tuesday revealed that the Cardinals are being investigated for stealing information from the Astros. No members of the Cardinals' franchise have been placed on leave and none have been named yet as part of the investigation, the paper said.
However, investigators think a former Cardinals executive may have been the target.
Law enforcement officials believe the hacking was executed by vengeful front-office employees for the Cardinals hoping to wreak havoc on the work of Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager who had been a successful and polarizing executive with the Cardinals until 2011.
The Times added that it's believed the attack is the first of its kind in the professional sports world, and allegedly occurred in 2013 using the former passwords of Luhnow and other former Cardinals employees that later joined the Astros.
And basically baseball has now become a subplot for a James Bond film. Let's just hope they don't find a giant laser hidden in the Cardinals dugout next.