Winning Fixes Everything

How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess

By: Evan Drellich

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

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.

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.

Fascinating background and information on baseball.

Eye-opening and thorough investigation and background on the Astros recent history and championships won.

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.

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.