Houston Astros Cheating Scandal

News broke yesterday (1/13/2020) that punishment had officially been handed down by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred upon their investigation confirming that the Houston Astros had cheated by using cameras position in center field to steal signs during the regular season and postseason in 2017, a year they won the World Series.

More in-depth information on the punishment can be found in the tweets below from MLB Insider, Jeff Passan.

It was announced roughly an hour after the news of Astros manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow’s suspension that the two were fired by Astros owner Jim Crane. Crane was quoted saying, “Neither one of them started this, but neither one of them did anything about it.”

Stealing signs in baseball has been around I’m sure forever, but it’s been done the “right” way. Getting a runner to second base and then trying to decode the catcher’s signs, and relaying that to your hitter once you have them figured out. Physically placing cameras in center field in order to get a live feed of the catcher’s signs is definitely cheating and has no place in the game of baseball.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Do you believe the punishment was fitting? How do you think the Astros will bounce back from all of this? Let us know in the comments below!

 

This article was originally published on January 13, 2020, and has been updated with new information.