Our hometown Astros have been in trouble. Instead of people writing and talking about how they are the new team to beat, the story has been the cheating scandal where the Astros are “alleged” to have used a trash can lid to signal incoming pitches from the opposing team to the Astros player at bat. Yes, in Houston, when we want to send secret messages, we use trash can lids. They supposedly had some camera system in the outfield that helped make this scheme work. But the Astros is a data-driven team—in the book, “Astroball,” Ben Reiter wrote about how they used data and a growth mindset from players to win it all in 2018.

The news coverage following this scandal has been distressing for Houstonians. But Jim Crane, the Astros’ owner, seems to be persevering. None of the Astros players were penalized. We still have the trophy. And eventually, people will talk about something else (hurry up election 2020). The Astros have really shown how to handle these sorts of crises, so we thought we’d pull together some of what helped them sidestep this scandal as a roadmap for future owners faced with a crisis.