There isn’t much that the fanbases of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers agree on, especially as the two teams are set to face off in the World Series.
But there is one particular item on which both parties agree: Cheating in baseball sucks. The Houston Astros suck. And the cheating Houston Astros from 2017 really, really suck.
Yankees general manager took a moment to remind everybody of that during an appearance on the “Mad Dog Radio” show with long-time New York radio host Chris Russo.
The conversation veered into the narrative that the once-mighty Yankees had been in a World Series drought prior to this season. It’s been 15 years. But Cashman takes umbrage with that storyline, reminding the baseball world that the Astros stole it all in 2017.
“I hate the 15-year thing because it completely forgets and discounts that some other organization cheated us when we were already in the end, if you knew what was going on, I don’t think they would be advancing during that time thing, I think we would have been advancing,” Cashman said.
“I hate that 15-year thing because I don’t think it accurately reflects history.”
Cashman Reminds Everybody How The Astros Cheated
Indeed, 2017 was the year that the Houston Astros destroyed the integrity of the game by cheating on baseball. In fact, the two teams with the biggest gripe over what happened that season were the Yankees and the Dodgers.
The Astors defeated New York in the ALCS 4-2 and then Los Angeles in the World Series 4-3, grabbing their first world title in franchise history.
But they cheated to do it.
The Astros used a sophisticated sign-stealing system during the 2017 and part of the 2018 seasons, according to an investigation by MLB.
Houston employed a camera in center field to decode opposing teams’ signs. This information was then relayed to the dugout and ultimately to batters through various methods, including the now-infamous banging on a trash can.
This method gave the Astros an unfair advantage. Major League players knowing what pitch is coming ahead of time? It can not be understated how much of a bonus that was for their hitters.
The fallout included suspensions for General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch, both of whom were fired by the Astros, and significant fines and draft pick losses for the team.
MLB, however, did not punish a single player on the team, instead offering them immunity for their cooperation. That’s right, the league that banned Pete Rose for life for betting on his own team didn’t punish any cheating players on the Astros.
Brian Cashman reminds the Astros they cheated to win a World Series pic.twitter.com/m7alra6e78
— The Sporting Page (@sportingpage) October 22, 2024
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Cheated The Dodgers Too
So, the Houston Astros very obviously robbed the baseball world of another Yankees-Dodgers World Series matchup in 2017. They then robbed the Dodgers blind.
Nowhere was that advantage more evident than in Game 5 of the World Series when the Astros hit 5 home runs and won the game in extra innings, 13-12.
Dodgers future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw certainly remembers that game. His offense staked him to a 4-0 lead as he pitched the 4th inning. He had already pitched masterfully in Game 1, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings.
But he couldn’t defeat the sign-stealers in the pivotal Game 5. After tossing three scoreless innings, Kershaw gave all 4 runs back in the 4th and then 2 more in the 5th before he walked off the mound, confused by what had just happened.
During a recent interview with the New York Times, Kershaw was asked to ponder if the Dodgers’ current one-two batters – Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts – are the best he’s ever seen.
His comment showed he still holds a bit of a grudge.
“I’m trying to think of teams that I pitched against,” Kershaw said. “Like the best teams. I mean, leadoff-wise, [Jose] Altuve and [Alex] Bregman were good [in Houston]. But they cheated, so that’s not really the same.”
While the MLB investigation encompassed the 2017 and 2018 seasons, it seems highly unlikely the Astros had stopped cheating in 2019 as well. The story only broke in November after that season’s completion.
That year, the Washington National narrowly defeated Houston in seven games but had to develop a complex system of signs to try and thwart the Asterisks.
On the road to that World Series, the Astros again dropped the Yankees in the ALCS. Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres believes the cheating continued that year as well.
“If you cheat in 2017 and you won, why don’t you do that the next year and the next year too?” Torres would later say.
“It’s for sure… If I play video games with you and we face the TV and I saw your control, and I saw what is coming and I win, and you tell me, ‘(Let’s) play again’? I do the same thing. And they did ‘17 for sure, and they did ‘18, and ‘19.”
The 2024 World Series starts in Los Angeles on Friday night.
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