Houston We Have A Problem

There had been rumblings of this for most of last season. In their 2017 World Series year, the Houston Astros had been accused of stealing signs. Well, it's no longer an accusation, it was sign stealing. Houston got caught and are now going to pay for it. And pay in a big way they will. Before we look at the punishment, here's a quick reminder of the backstory of what exactly happened.

Go back to the 2017 season. The Houston Astros won 101 regular season games, and the American League West title. They finished with the 2nd best record in the AL, behind only the Cleveland Indians. Houston went on to beat Boston in the Divisional Round and then the New York Yankees in the League Championship series, before winning their first ever World Series title. They beat the Dodgers in the Series in seven games to capture the crown.

The Dodgers had said after that series that they had suspected the Astros of doing something, but it wasn't quite proven yet, just speculation. Then, in early 2019, Mike Fiers, a member of the Oakland A's pitching staff, who played for the Astros in 2017, told journalists Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drelich of The Athletic, the Astros used a video camera in center field to steal opposing teams' signs and that he had warned his then-teammates with the Detroit Tigers about it. Fiers said that the Astros would then relay the signs through whistling and banging on garbage cans. In a subsequent report from The Athletic, it was reported that an Astros executive asked scouts for help stealing signs and suggested using cameras.

After this news came out, Major League Baseball had issued a statement on its findings. Baseball had confirming that the Astros had illegally used a video camera system to steal signs in the 2017 regular season and postseason, and in parts of the 2018 regular season. Commissioner Rob Manfred disciplined the Astros with a $5 million fine—the maximum amount allowed by major league rules—and forfeiture of their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. The league also suspended General Manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A. J. Hinch for the entire 2020 season, including the playoffs and World Series. It was also announced that, if Luhnow and Hinch commit further "material violations" of baseball rules, they will be permanently banned from baseball.

To the credit of the Astros organization, they wasted no time in dealing with this situation. Astros owner Jim Crane fired Hinch and Luhnow, saying, "Neither one of them started this but neither one of them did anything about it." Crane said he was going beyond MLB's sanctions because he had "higher standards for the city and the franchise".

I give baseball full marks for taking the steps that it did, as well as handing out the punishment it did. Punishment fit the crime. Hats off to the sport who, unlike the NFL, actually knows how to properly hand out punishment for something that goes against the principals of its sport. Good on Major League Baseball for the suspensions and good on the Houston Astros for taking the action that they did.

Since the news has broken, some are contending, and have a legitimate argument, that the Astros should be stripped of their World Series Championship. It was cheating to gain an advantage, but baseball isn't stripping them of the title. At the other side of the coin, it falls on management and not the players. The guys out on the field still had to go out and play. Yes, they may have had an advantage to know what was coming, but at the same time the players still had to hit the ball and go out and make the plays. I'm glad baseball didn't take action against the players because they still went out and did their jobs.

At the end of the day, the Astros did cheat and the title should be taken away. Don't give it to the Dodgers or anybody else. The title was stripped and there was no World Champion in 2017.

They got caught with the hand in the cookie jar.