I guess there is no crying in baseball—however what the Astros did is a crying shame. They cheated and won and mostly got away with it. Alex Cora took what he learned to the Red Sox and won there—he learned cheating pays. He is now out of a job as is the Astros manager and GM. The punishments aren’t severe enough.
I believe sports mirror the society we live in. I can’t help but see parallels to our current political climate. How politicians have placed party above country. How being honorable and moral are less important than winning. How the ends justify the means. Is it any wonder baseball players, managers and front offices have placed team ahead of the game. There is no honor in what these teams accomplished nor should there have been any glory. Doing irreparable harm to the game you espouse to love in the name of competing is a disgrace. MLB cannot deal too harsh a penalty. Whatever is done is not enough.
I must admit I haven’t followed this travesty closely. It’s too disturbing. I haven’t delved into all the underlying numbers. I do know the Astros (and I assume the Red Sox) hit exceedingly better at home than on the road. I know Clayton Kershaw underperformed in his outing at Minute Maid Park and the narrative became more about his inability to dominate in the playoffs (i.e. he’s choking). Pretty unfair when the other team knows what pitch is coming through no fault of his own.
All sports have some form of deceit. Soccer and basketball players flop, football players will have mysterious injuries to stifle their opponent’s momentum, and of course there is legitimate sign stealing in baseball. There is a line in all sports. Sometimes that line is blurry. What the Astros and presumably the Red Sox did obliterate any sense that a line even exists.
I don’t totally know what to make of it. I think about my upcoming fantasy draft. Are players like Bregman, Altuve and Betts still worthy of first round picks? I am so disgusted, I’m not sure I want to participate in fantasy baseball at all this year. A baseball boycott seems a reasonable response for fans whose trust in the integrity of the game has been stolen.
I have been a Cleveland Indians fan for my entire life. World Series appearances can be counted on one hand; wins---nada and I was born in the same year as the Super Bowl. There is nothing I want more in sports than for the Indians to win a World Series. I am not sure how I would feel if the Indians finally won only to discover they cheated to do so. Euphoria to disgust. I am not sure I could forgive the game.
I know to some my reaction may seem overblown. I actually feel the opposite. Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite watching football when I see players heads getting smashed and I know they are risking significant brain injury. I get it that they know the risks at this point, but if fans like me stop watching revenue goes down and thus the incentive to risk brain injury goes down as well. How do I go back to watching baseball and thereby implicitly forgive behavior I really have no interest in forgiving? Frankie Lindor’s smile will suck me back in, but I am warning you Baseball you’ve got two strikes.