New York federal judge Jed Rakoff has thrown out a class action lawsuit alleging that the sign-stealing — read: cheating — by the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox cost fans money by hurting their fantasy baseball picks.

Further, Major League Baseball was also named in the suit as having aided and abetted with the subsequent covering up of the teams' respective schemes.

Rakoff did not mince words during his ruling, calling the the Sox and Astros "shameless" for breaking the hearts of "true baseball fans."

Final results. Over 37k votes in a day. 60% want no Astros in fantasy baseball this year. https://t.co/pUg5r9tuGD

— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) February 21, 2020

That said, as was the case during previous decisions of this nature made relative to NFL cases, the onus remains on the fans to understand that players and teams are going actively pursue competitive advantages — even to the extent that the Astros have now been exposed for.

Most importantly, Major League Baseball was absolved of any wrong-doing.

"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 a cognizable legal claim?" Rakoff asked. "On the allegations here made, the answer is no."

"I wonder if Altuve is a little too human, too sensitive, too empathic to completely drown out the persistent noise around the Astros..."@scott_pianowski takes a thoughtful look at players he's fading in his fantasy baseball drafts.

➡ https://t.co/8oTl0kmYL2 pic.twitter.com/qHgOK8uO4Q

— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) March 5, 2020

The situation in Houston being well-understood at this point, Boston finds itself wrapped in similar accusations based on allegedly using a similar system under Alex Cora in 2018.

According to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, the report on the Red Sox has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.