Federal judge tosses fan lawsuit vs. MLB, Astros, Red Sox

“A sport that celebrates `stealing,' even if only of a base, may not provide the perfect encouragement to scrupulous play,” U.S/ District Judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote Friday in a 32-page opinion. "Nor can it be denied that an overweening desire to win may sometimes lead our heroes to employ forbidden substances on their (spit) balls, their (corked) bats, or even their (steroid-consuming) selves. But as Frank Sinatra famously said to Grace Kelly (in the 1956 movie musical High Society), “there are rules about such things.“

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred

“In 2017 and thereafter, the Houston Astros, and somewhat less blatantly the Boston Red Sox, shamelessly broke that rule, and thereby broke the hearts of all true baseball fans,” Rakoff wrote. "But did the initial efforts of those teams, and supposedly of Major League Baseball itself, to conceal these foul deeds from the simple sports bettors who wagered on fantasy baseball create cognizable legal claim? On the allegations here made, the answer is no.”

The five men who sued participated in fantasy contests hosted by DraftKings from 2017-19.

“The connection between the alleged harm plaintiffs suffered and defendants’ conduct is simply too attenuated to support any of plaintiffs’ claims for relief,” Rakoff said.