As I watched the dominos fall on the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox cheating scandal I asked myself the question. Will they be stripped of their World Series Championship?
Houston got hit hard financially, lost draft picks, and fired their manager. The Red Sox “parted” with their manager who was in Houston at the time and brought the Houston Project to Boston. The Mets released their new Manager who was in Houston during this time as well. MLB has yet to release the findings on whether the Red Sox cheated, but parting with your Manager is a pretty good indication that you did no matter how you try to spin it.
So, why did MLB not strip the Astros of their title? MLB said that there was no clear indication that the Dodgers would have won even if Houston did not cheat. Really? You just said they cheated, so doesn’t that tell you that they were not good enough to win in the first place. The smell test is alive and well on this one. Take the Championship away. Make them take down the banner. Every team that comes into that park will see that banner and know they cheated. It will not be fun for the Astros and the Red Sox to go into visiting parks this season either!
Baseball was once the Great American Pastime, now it is a game that condoned steroid use, and is doing the same for stealing signs electronically. There is the adage in sports that says “if you are not cheating you are not trying”. I call Bull S**t to that! If you have to cheat you, are answering to society’s scorecard that winning is the only thing matters and you are judged on that. Well guess what. Houston Astros of 2017 will always be remembered as cheaters. The leadership group lacked character and they did not trust the work they put in was good enough to win. How’s that for a scorecard.
MLB needs to take the next step and drop the hammer down and send a message to the other teams and to the fans that this will not be tolerated anymore.
Until next time.
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