Is The Astros Sign Stealing Scandal Overblown? Probably.
For the entirety of Spring Training and likely into the start of the baseball season, we’re going to hear about the 2017 Astros and their sign-stealing scandal. I’m here to tell a hard truth: whatever bullshit narrative you’re buying into from the media, take a minute, pause and realize it doesn’t matter.
Every team in sports cheats if they can get the chance to do so without getting caught. There’s an old adage across the board, especially in baseball, “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” From Brett Wallace freaking out over too much pine tar on his bat, to the ole Vaseline on the brim of the ballcap trick, cheating in baseball is as ingrained in the sport as fat ass dudes playing past their prime. In football, the Patriots are confirmed cheaters multiple times, and life goes on, and Tom Brady is still a champion.
While you can cry foul on sign stealing or whatever, sure, poor Dodgers. Did they get screwed? Not really. You know why? The Astros still had to hit home runs, play excellent defense, and guys like Justin Verlander had to throw a lot of strikes. Every pitcher was lights out that season from the starters to the bullpen. Pitching wins a World Series.
Do you honestly think Jose Altuve or George Springer wouldn’t instantly make any team better? Just because they might have known if a fastball vs. a curveball was coming doesn’t negate the fact they’re still some of the best players of their generation.
Now players have to pretend they’re sorry in this whole media circus for people to feel better about themselves. Sorry kids, that’s all hollow bullshit. MLB probably deals with some cheating probe once a week and sweep it under the rug because people get emotional over baseball considering its historical significance – it’s like telling a Kennedy assassination joke with people cringing – too soon?
Some folks from other teams have cited some old school vigilante justice by throwing at them, and it’s exhausting. They’re just mad they weren’t smart enough to devise a plan as scandalous. I love seeing sports commentators wring their hands like politicians. It’s all hot air. The Astros lost their brass, Cora is effectively out for life, and after a long career, a couple of old-timers like Carlos made a deal with the devil to get his ring.
While you’re about to comment – ask yourselves: what punishment is acceptable? You can’t ban a whole organization from playing. They already took action against management. If you take action against current players, you’re opening Pandora’s Box on what’s allowed for punishment. Again, the Astros got an edge. Was it right or fair? No, it wasn’t. But, still, a lineup with literally some of the best players in the game who also crushed on the road, at 53-28, doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that they happened to be an excellent team. Calm down, people. We’ll move past this, trust me. Once you start talking about taking away trophies and pulling a Black Sox move, it negates all of the other hard work that went into winning. If you want to make this a teachable moment, fine. But don’t act like this is a stain on the sport. If anything, it was good for baseball.
It proved that tanking on purpose for the sake of a full and complete ground-up rebuild works. No one had done it to the level of the Astros, and you know what? It’s nice to see a lot of teams come back from the grave after seeing the success of that model. It’s going to be fun to see the Padres, Reds, and White Sox in the playoffs. Some good does come from the bad.