For two years, the Houston Astros were viewed as one of the best teams in MLB history. However, did they really earn their greatness? The 2017 season was a perfect one for the Astros. They finished first in their division and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series. After having two more solid seasons, the Astros were undoubtedly one of the most feared teams in baseball. However, they didn’t get to where they are on skill alone.
After losing to the Washington Nationals in the 2019 World Series, everything for the Astros went downhill. It was revealed that the Astros had been cheating through the 2017 season and postseason, as well as the early 2018 season. They were using center field cameras to steal the other team’s signs. Once they got the signs, players and coaches would tell the hitter what pitch was coming by banging on a trash can in the dugout.
There were also assumptions that the Astros players wore electronic buzzers to help communicate which pitch was about to be thrown. Astros players Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman both denied that they weren’t wearing buzzers. The MLB’s investigation didn’t find the players wearing a buzzer. Even if the players wore buzzers or not, there was still severe punishments for the organization.
The team’s punishments were the suspensions of manager A.J Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow, who were both later fired by the organization. The team also had to give up their first and second-round picks in the MLB draft for the next two years, while being fined five million dollars by the league.
Obviously, the Dodgers were the most affected because they felt robbed from a World Series title in 2017. The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets were also affected. Former Astros player, Carlos Beltran, was announced as the new manager for the Mets, but left after only two months with the team because he was part of the 2017 Astros World Series run. The Red Sox also fired their manager Alex Cora since he was involved in the Astros cheating.
With all of this being revealed about the Astros, everyone might start questioning the great teams in the league. The Astros scandal has ruined part of MLB’s reputation along with the reputation of some players. This might even make other teams come clean if they have cheated. Either way, the Astros will always be viewed as one of the biggest cheaters in MLB history.
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