September 22, 2023
The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball Premieres Oct. 3 on PBS & Streaming Platforms as MLB Playoffs Begin
Tues., Oct. 3, 2023
7/6c: pbs.org/frontline, PBS App YouTube
10/9c: PBS stations (check local listings), YouTube
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On Tuesday, Oct. 3, a 90-minute FRONTLINE documentary sheds new light on one of the most explosive scandals in baseball history.
Premiering on PBS and streaming platforms the same date the Major League Baseball postseason is scheduled to begin, The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball tells the inside story of the Houston Astros cheating scandal, the fallout, and what it says about baseball today.
Gripping and revealing, the documentary features new and exclusive interviews with former MLB insiders — including a former Astros video operations manager who speaks out for the first time and details the inner workings of the now-infamous sign-stealing scheme, and the most expansive on-camera interview yet with former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, who continues to deny awareness of the cheating.
Directed and produced by Jonathan Clasberry with producer Quinton Boudwin, The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball is narrated by producer and reporter Ben Reiter, who has covered the team extensively for Sports Illustrated, in the book Astroball, and in the podcast, The Edge: Houston Astros. In the documentary, Reiter goes inside the Astros’ journey from the worst team in baseball to the most dominant club of the era, chronicling how their innovative and hypercompetitive approach — data-driven and drawn from Wall Street and Silicon Valley — took shape and changed the game.
Then, Reiter probes that approach’s shadow side, piecing together how a “win-at-all-costs” culture inside the Astros led to a cheating scheme that would taint the team’s 2017 World Series win and reverberate across the sports world. Drawing on new interviews and reporting, the documentary examines MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s own investigation into the scandal, which offered immunity to Astros players and resulted in few consequences for those who carried out the cheating scheme.
With the now-two-time World Series champion Astros in a position to make the playoffs for the seventh year in a row, many of the people implicated in the 2017 cheating scandal still involved in Major League Baseball, and the breakneck, data-driven pursuit of an “edge” now standard throughout the game, The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball unpacks the making of one of the best teams and worst scandals in modern MLB history, the limited accountability that followed, and what all means for the future of America’s pastime.
A must-watch documentary for all baseball fans, The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball will be available to watch in full at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting Oct. 3, 2023, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel at 10/9c. The documentary is distributed internationally by PBS International. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball.
Credits
The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball is a FRONTLINE Production with Left/Right Docs. The director, producer and writer is Jonathan Clasberry. The producer is Quinton Boudwin. The producer and correspondent is Ben Reiter. The senior producer is Frank Koughan. The executive producers for Left/Right Docs are Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 104 Emmy Awards and 31 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.
FRONTLINE Press Contact:
Anne Husted, FRONTLINE, Manager, Public Relations and Communications | frontlinemedia@wgbh.org | 617.300.5312
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