At the end of the cold October playoffs in 2017, the Houston Astros achieved the highest level of success as a franchise winning their first-ever World Series title. They created a very strong pitching staff and an arguably better offense, along with a culture of greatness. Two years later, Houston is the most hated team in the league, despised by fans, players, and the organization of Major League Baseball. After former Astros pitcher, Mike Fiers reported to The Athletic, that they used cameras to steal signs during their World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This statement sparked one of the largest investigations in Major League Baseball history since the Steroid Era. After more than 60 interviews, looking through tens of thousands of emails, and an extensive look into the Astros 2017 season, the MLB announced that the Astros did cheat and would be punished. The Houston Astros illegally put a camera in centerfield to steal signs from the catcher and notify the batter what pitch is coming next.
Sign stealing is part of baseball and has been for decades, but was used as more of a mental game when a player is on second base or a pitcher is unintentionally tipping pitches. What the Astros did is a completely different story, using technology in any way to give a team an advantage is cheating. The Astros not only cheated the Dodgers, Yankees, and other teams out of the opportunity at a title, and cheat rookie phenom Aaron Judge out of an MVP, but they cheated the city of Houston and their fan base out of the satisfaction of being the best team in baseball.
But it gets worse, after the 2017 season the Astros bench coach, Alex Cora, signed with the Boston Red Sox, becoming their head coach. Cora went on to win the 2018 World Series with his star right fielder, Mookie Betts, winning the American League MVP as well. Not a single person batted an eye until the Astros began being investigated for cheating, followed by the Red Sox on the same day. The Sox allegedly did not cheat in the playoffs and not to the extent and length the Astros cheated, but cheating is cheating. The MLB community is unsure if their title is legitimate.
After this was announced, punishment was delivered to the Astros as ESPN announced that the head coach, AJ Hinch, and general manager, Jeff Luhnow, were immediately fired, along with a five million dollar fine, and lost their first-round picks in 2020 and 2021. Alex Cora was let go by the Red Sox in turn for his role in both cheating scandals; punishment has not been handed out to the team yet. The New York Mets also decided to let go of their new head coach, Carlos Beltran, who was a player on the Astros during the 2017 season.
The Major League Baseball community is in outrage as the punishment was not enough, none of the players involved were even remotely punished, and the Astros title was not stripped. Although there is some evidence that the Astros continued to cheat in the playoffs in both 2018 and 2019, the MLB announced that there was not enough sufficient evidence to move forward in an investigation. Many believe that the title should be stripped and given to the competing team. If the MLB were to punish one of the players, they would need to punish them all, meaning an entire triple A roster who had absolutely nothing to do with cheating would be punished. Some believe that four people losing their prolific jobs in a major league organization along with the future of Houston with draft picks being taken away is enough.
As bad as it sounds, the Astros players were just doing what they were told, what they were encouraged to do by their managers and it won them a ring. The players of the 2017 roster and the baseball community will always have the World Series title and will be hated past retirement. This could not only affect the money they will make in the future, and their job market after retirement, but for some, it could affect their Hall of Fame chances. All we can do is watch and wait to see what goes down in Houston in the 2020 season and the years to come.
