TAMPA, Fla. (TNS) — The New York Yankees were all too happy to talk about the Houston Astros sign stealing this spring. They were indignant and vocal after Major League Baseball confirmed long-held suspicions that Houston was illegally using electronics to steal signs and relaying them to the hitters in real-time. Having lost to the Astros in the American League Championship Series in 2017 and 2019, the Bombers — along with the Dodgers — were considered the victims of what the Astros had done.

So, it’s more than a little ironic, now, the Yankees want to keep secret the letter they received from Commissioner Rob Manfred detailing their own indiscretions in a sign-stealing investigation sent back in 2017. Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the letter, used as evidence in a larger class-action suit against MLB, should be unsealed, according to a report in The Athletic.

The Yankees and MLB are arguing it could cause embarrassment to those named in the letter. Rakoff said the letter should not be unsealed until Friday, so the team has enough time to make an emergency appeal. The Yankees are expected to make that appeal.

At this point, however, all the Yankees are really risking is embarrassment.

MLB looked into several allegations, including that the team used YES cameras to electronically steal signs, and came up with the illegal use of a dugout phone as the only violation. The Yankees were fined for rules violations they claimed happened in 2015-16.

While any more revelations could certainly be embarrassing to the Yankees, who were self-righteous in their condemnation of the Astros this spring, the fact is that MLB changed its rules on electronic sign-stealing after the 2017 regular season. That means that any alleged 2015, 2016 or even 2017 sign stealing that is revealed would not be punishable under the current rules, according to the league.

But it’s certainly intriguing that the Yankees’ dirty laundry could be dragged out in a lawsuit charging two of their biggest rivals of cheating.

The initial lawsuit, a $5 million class action suit filed on behalf of DraftKings daily fantasy players, was dismissed in April. The complaint alleged that MLB, the Astros and Red Sox were liable for the money DraftKings players lost during games Houston and Boston may have cheated.

While an appeal of the lawsuit was also dismissed, the amended complaint argued that Manfred misled the public and falsely represented the findings of the 2017 investigation into the Yankees in the press release.

In his ruling, Rakoff wrote that “the investigation had in fact found the Yankees engaged in a more serious sign-stealing scheme.”

While the Yankees argue that the letter would embarrass those named in it, Rakoff ruled that “much of the letter’s contents have already been revealed in the 2017 Press Release.”

The Astros were found to have used a video feed in their replay room to steal opposing catchers’ signs and then use a bat to bang on a trash can to relay what pitch was coming in real-time to hitters in the batter’s box. They were fined $5 million, they had their first-round draft picks taken away and GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year and then fired by the team.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was the bench coach on that 2017 Astros’ World Series championship team, was fired by Boston for his role in the Astros’ scheme and later suspended for a year when the results of an investigation into the Red Sox were announced. The Astros players were given immunity in the investigation, but Carlos Beltran, a player at the time, was named in the investigation and was forced to step down from his job as Mets manager before his first day at spring training.

Boston was found to have run a much smaller sign-stealing scheme centered on their video replay operator, who was suspended for a year. The players were again given immunity in the investigation.