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By Evan Whatley 2017 World Series champions, the Houston Astros were the epitome of the Major League and at the top of baseball, until about a month ago. The Houston Astros have been accused by multiple players, trainers, and analysts to have cheated during the entire 2017 Major league baseball playoffs in order to win a World Series championship. Former Astros Pitcher, Mike Fiers, began the allegations by accusing the Astros of stealing signs, watching what pitch the catcher tells the pitcher to throw, and telling their batter the pitch being thrown. Knowing the pitch, the players or coaches in the dugout sent a signal through a buzzing device or loud noise to the batter. The batter having the information of the pitch thrown allowed for an unfair advantage to the batter and gave the Astros many hits and home runs helping them not only reach the playoffs, but win the World Series title.
Many people believe the Astros do not deserve the 2017 championship, “I think the Dodgers should get the [championship] ring. They got cheated in the World Series; the biggest game for their franchise” said Senior, and Glenelg baseball Pitcher, Matt Porter. The Astros may have cheated, but does that mean that the Dodgers deserve the championship? The Dodgers did still lose after all. Glenelg Junior, Jonah Wisniewski believes, “ I think the World series title should just be canceled and no one should get it.” Many are torn on whether the Astros really deserve the trophy. Although the winner of the 2017 World Series is undecided, there have been many repercussions by the MLB. Three Major League Baseball managers, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran (previously a player on 2017 Astros), and Astros manager AJ Hinch. who previously worked on the 2017 Astros coaching staff have been fired. However, many question the league’s decision on not suspending or banning any players, especially 2017 League MVP, Jose Altuve. Jose Altuve had an MVP season, taking his team all the way to the World Series and winning. Now his “MVP” season has a big asterisk next to it. With the Astros scandal now out in public, the Astros’ blatant use of home field advantage impacted the team significantly. Altuves home and road splits had a considerable difference. Altuve’s batting average at home was .472 (best in the major League), while away was an unimpressive .143. His on base percentage at home was .513 while on the road, just .268. And it wasn’t just Altuve who was part of this scandal. The Astros entire teams’ away game percentages were significantly lower than at home. Glenelg Sophomore, Andrew Brown believes, “the home and away splits just prove that the Astros season was a fluke and they only won because of the cheating.” Altuve’s stats leave many to believe fully in the scandal and prove to many that Altuve’s great season was not so great after all. At the end of the day, the big question is, “has the MLB lost its integrity?” Now teams have decided that cheating in the most absurd ways is worth winning a national championship. Glenelg Junior Connor Iannarino says, “I think it's totally worth it to cheat if you can win a championship.” The Astros players still remember winning the ultimate prize and were able to celebrate a championship, leaving the MLB in a tough spot. The MLB’s decision on how harsh their punishment is on the Astros will influence other teams and franchises opinion on whether they will go to the measures the Houston Astros did to hopefully win a championship and not get caught. What does this mean for honesty and integrity in general? Especially in the world of sports. There is no point in cheating, when a team is going to cheat. Comments are closed.
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January 2023
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