Photo: KRBC Online News
By: Kate Kennelly To say that the Houston Astros have faced a large amount of scrutiny in the past few months is an understatement. In 2017, the Astros had an amazing season that ended with winning their first World Series. During their regular season, they scored the most runs in baseball history. Their hitting was so accurate that they almost seemed what pitches were coming. Unsurprisingly to many, this wasn’t far from the truth. A report by the Atlantic newspaper came out claiming that the Astros had been spying on the other teams by putting cameras on the field and banging on trash cans. By spying on the other teams, they were able to completely crack the codes between the pitchers and catchers. They would then bang on trash cans a certain number of times depending on what pitch was coming. The catcher and pitchers would use signs and hand signals in order to communicate and tell each other which pitches were coming. These signs were made so the Astros, so the other teams wouldn't know which pitch was coming. This was so the pitchers could strike people out. The Astros knew every pitch that was coming to the batter. This is why the batting was so good for them all season, especially helping their accuracy. Spying on other teams is clearly cheating and breaks the code of conduct that teams are expected to abide by. The Dodgers had lost the World Series to the Astros in 2017. They recalled that they always had concerns about cheating going on with the Astros, they just didn’t have any way to prove it. Dodgers president Andrew Friedman recalled, “I know during the playoffs, our advance team that was playing Houston talked about it, there was just a lot of speculation about it.” Another report came out a few weeks after the first report, saying that the Tampa Bay Rays were also suspicious of cheating on the Astros’ part, but also had no way to prove it. As a punishment to their cheating, they have been fined $5 million. They have also had their 2017 World Series title stripped since they didn’t win fairly. The team has also been stripped of their ability to take their first and second picks in the upcoming 2020 and 2021 drafts. They are certainly paying for their cheating scandal and will be checked for signs of cheating more carefully.
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