The Houston Astros hold up "I Stand Up For" signs during Game 4 of the World Series against the Natinoals on Oct. 26 in Washington. (AP photo)

HOUSTON — Not too long ago, the Houston Astros were the feel-good story of baseball. Led by their diminutive Venezuelan dynamo and featuring smart play on the field and in the front office, they emerged from a morass of awful seasons that got them mocked as the Lastros and ascended to the top of the big league galaxy as World Series champions.

That picture of the sheer joy as the Astros celebrated their 2017 crown at Dodger Stadium sure looks different now.

Fresh off a bitter Game 7 loss in its bid for another title, and tarnished by an executive’s clubhouse rant at female reporters and the failed attempt to smear the journalist who wrote about the scene, the franchise is now embroiled in a new scandal: allegations with on-the-record comments from a former player the Astros turned to technology to devise a sign-stealing scheme during their greatest season.

Sign stealing may be as old as baseball. From a clandestine buzzer-and-spyglass system the New York Giants invented to overtake the Brooklyn Dodgers in their famed 1951 pennant race, to the Boston Red Sox being fined two years ago for a high-tech ploy using an Apple Watch to pilfer catcher’s signals by the Yankees, cheating is engrained in the game’s lore going back to the day of spitballs.

Getting close to the line, or even crossing it, has long been a part of sports — witness the suspicions that have followed the New England Patriots during their dynasty.

But the Astros are under scrutiny for how they’re said to have gotten around the rules. And it’s just one of many ways the team has landed in the news for the wrong reasons in recent years.

The negative backlash includes sign-stealing clouds in the past and an episode this season when the team improperly barred a reporter from the clubhouse. It led, too, to some fans taking to social media this October to say they’d turned against rooting for the Astros.

Major League Baseball is now investigating the Astros after The Athletic website reported the team stole signs during home games in 2017 by using a camera positioned in center field at Minute Maid Park. Tuesday’s report quoted pitcher Mike Fiers, who played for the Astros that season, and three other unidentified people with the club.

The Astros won the World Series that year — two sources told The Athletic that Houston used the system into the playoffs while another source said the system ended before the postseason. Using cameras and technology to swipe signs is prohibited by MLB, though there are whispers that many clubs might do it in some form.