Winning Fixes Everything

How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess

By: Evan Drellich

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The reporter who broke the Houston Astros' cheating scandal reveals how a baseball team could so dramatically descend into corruption, with never-before-told details of a broken management culture, the once-revered leaders who enabled it and the scandal itself.

Baseball, that old romantic game, has been defaced and consumed by corporate America. As Moneyball-thinking and Ivy League graduates grabbed hold of the sport, the Astros set out to build a cost-efficient winning machine on the principles of the outside business world, squeezing every dollar out of every transaction, player and employee.

In less than a decade, ex-Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow helped revolutionize the game. He created an environment that led to one of the worst cheating scandals in baseball history, a Shakespearean tragedy of innovation and failed change management. Through years of extensive interviews, former Houston Chronicle beat writer Evan Drellich, now a national writer for The Athletic, delivers the definitive account of baseball’s most controversial franchise and how a modern baseball team truly works—without the usual myth-spinning.

Drellich reveals the rise and fall of the Astros to be a collision of subcultures. The team’s top boss was a former McKinsey consultant who lived on the bleeding edge with no guardrails. He hired outsider after outsider to change the organization as quickly and cheaply as possible. The wins piled up, and so did the cash for the billionaire owner with a checkered business past. But not even a World Series title could cover up the rot.

All of it came at a cost to fans, employees, and the sport on a whole. But as Winning Fixes Everything makes clear, “The Astros Way” isn’t going anywhere. Drellich uses the saga of the Astros’ scandal to detail the evolution of baseball itself.

©2021 Evan Drellich (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Very informative

It was informative, and fairly accurate although I did notice a few discrepancies from other accounts I’ve read. The narration was well done.

The Houston Trashstros

I have now read two books on the Astros’ cheating scandal and have come to a few conclusions…

- Jeff Luhnow is more than happy to pass out blame and take all of the credit. Working for him must be hell.
- AJ Hinch doesn’t know how to say the words “I’m sorry.”
- Alex Cora is a loudmouth drunk who is making an impact on the game in a way he couldn’t as a player.
- Manfred absolutely should have taken away the Astros’ 2017 championship.

This is a great book. If you care even a little bit about baseball, you should listen to this.

Engrossing story.

Excellent listen. I loved every single second of it and held on for every single word.

Journalism at its best!

Well done! Well written! Incredible insight and research done! If you love the game and want to know more about the dirty behind the scenes, you’ll love book!

Solid Example of Zero Character Leadership

Loved the level of detail and the unapologetic delivery. The Astros made their mark by showing the baseball world that character still matters. Even if they did so by showing what happens you win but utterly lack character. There’s a reason why quietly going along with cheating even taints the « good guys ».

Baseball Tragedy

A story about a tragedy in baseball and how a team motivated by egos worked to harm the sport.

Fascinating and Narrated Well

This was an outstanding book about the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal. It focuses on general manager Jeff Luna, describing an organizational cultured that promoted looking for winning edges through statistics and technology. No guard rails were in place when the Astros realized they could decode a catcher’s signals and relay them to the batter in real time. It was a fascinating account and the narration was first class.

HBO series when?

A great telling that brought to light the dysfunction of the Astros front office and the toxicity of baseball. Deserves an HBO series akin to the show, Winning Time about Dr.Buss and the Lakers during the 60s-70s

Great reporting of the sign stealing scandal

Evan and Ken are great reporters. They did such a great job of investigative reporting and have such high moral standards that I greatly respect. We all need more reporting like this and those willing to stand up to high powered executives. Jim Crane and Jeff Luhnow are all that is wrong with business and sports. No ethical standards and willing to win at all costs.

Behind the scenes MLB

The general feeling of the fans is that the Astros cheated themselves into the 2017 World Series. This is true and irrefutable. However, my main takeaway from this journalistic masterpiece is what Rob Manfred did before, during and after the scandal. How Jim Crane was allowed into ownership, the other teams cheating and how getting away with it became a trend in the league. The Astros set standards of advanced statistics and now is implemented across all 30 teams.

This is a great read for anyone wanting to further their understanding of modern MLB and what lead to the 2017 Houston Astros scandal.