But the computer hacking investigation in MLB is no trivial matter, as demonstrated by the FBI's involvement.
There are allegations that employees of the Cardinals breached the Astros' computer system and had access to all their files.
Fox commentator Tom Verducci was on TV the other day shrugging this off as silly because the Cardinals are good and the Astros haven't been. Therefore, he concluded, what interest would the Cardinals have in stealing intelligence from the Astros?
Plenty, actually. Any knowledge is helpful, and access to scouting reports and e-mails regarding trades would have value.
There's no proof at this point that anyone in a position of authority at the Cardinals authorized the hacking or had any knowledge of it. There's no proof that information was even taken.
But just the idea that it could happen is enough to shake up MLB, and it should have the same chilling effect in other sports as well.
Time to tighten up the cyber security -- if it's not already too late.
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--BUILT ON A BUDGET
For unknown reasons, some people don't have much regard for Neal Huntington.
Yet what he's done with the Pirates is bordering on miraculous. He's not only improved the major league team to postseason level, he's also supervised the building of an organization. These Pirates are constructed to be able to sustain success, and not fall off a cliff the way the 1990-92 teams did when the stars got too expensive and left.
That's tough to do, and it's even more difficult with budget restraints that a lot of organizations don't have.
Huntington made some big mistakes after he took over, but he's also learned from them.
Every time Mark Melancon saves a game, remember that he was acquired in a pre-emptive trade that sent Joel Hanrahan to the Red Sox after he had saved 36 games in 2012. The Pirates sent Brock Holt to Boston in the same deal and while he's proven to be a useful player, the key was upgrading the closer position.
Since leaving the Pirates, Hanrahan has pitched in nine major league games and recently had his second Tommy John surgery.
It was a classic example of selling high on a player, finding a replacement who had been undervalued and coming away with a substantial improvement at a much lower price.
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--TRUMPED
Now that Donald Trump has officially thrown his hair into the ring as a Presidential candidate, he has to answer tough questions.
Here's one for him: Why did he kill the Pittsburgh Maulers?
Trump was one of the organizers of the USFL, which the Maulers joined for the league's second season, 1984. Trump was also the leading advocate of switching the USFL to a fall schedule to go head-to-head with the NFL.
That insistence led to the demise of the Maulers after that lone season. The DeBartolos owned the Maulers and they also owned the 49ers. They weren't about to compete with the NFL.
The goal of any upstart league is to force a merger with the established league. That happened when the NFL took in the old AFL in 1970. It happened on a limited scale with the NBA (ABA) and NHL (WHA).
The takeaway from that alphabet soup is the owners of teams in a competing league get to join the "real" league at a bargain price. That was Trump's goal in pushing for the USFL to go directly against the NFL.
It never happened, of course, and the Maulers didn't get a do-over on their 3-15 season.
We'll never know what coach Hank Bullough might have done with an '85 Maulers squad.
Candidate Trump should be made to answer for that.
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--LACKING SUPPORT
Sometimes the details obscure the long view.
The Penguins' problem is they can't assemble a supporting cast to go with their stars. Seems like finding complementary players -- the Bob Errey, Phil Bourque and Troy Loney types -- should be the easier part.
Yet this is the sixth year Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang have watched other teams play in the Stanley Cup Final.
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--IN THE ROUGH
Poor Tiger Woods. If he didn't have 100 bazillion dollars in the bank, you'd feel sorry for him.
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