THE SATURDAY SURVEY

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Through Thursday’s games, the battle in the AL to determine who goes to the World Series is between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox.  Ironically, both teams have ties to cheating scandals in 2017 and 2018.

The Astros, of course, were found to be guilty of high-tech sign stealing in 2017 but players were given immunity for their testimony, including those singled out for their actions in planning and implementing the sign stealing.  One of those labeled as a “ringleader” was Alex Cora, who went on to become the Red Sox manager in 2018. 

Similarly, there was evidence that Boston used some of the same sign-stealing strategies in 2018 that Houston did.  After an investigation by MLB, it was determined that Boston’s actions were “more limited in scope” and the organization was exonerated.  However, the Red Sox fired Cora for a year before rehiring him a year later.

During the 2019 World Series, the Washington Nationals were warned by multiple sources that the Astros were continuing to cheat. As a result, the Nats had to take extra precautions by developing an extremely complex system of signs to use before going on to win the World Series.

With the return of both of these teams to the playoffs, have your feelings about them changed given the circumstances and the time to reflect since the cheating scandals came to light?

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  • How many former Tigers are on the list of this year’s top free agents?

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14 thoughts on “THE SATURDAY SURVEY”

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  2. There is a lot of hypocrisy attached to the sign stealing scandal. For as many years as I have watched baseball it was considered your duty to try to steal signs and relay them if you could. I realize that the use of technology brought it to a new level, but if you were going to do it why wouldn’t you use all the tools available? If it got out of hand (it did) the fault lies entirely with MLB who was certainly aware of what was happening and did nothing.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Cheating in baseball has gone on for decades. No one condones such behavior, but people will often seek a competitive edge. Anabolic Steroids and other illegal substances, Corked bats, Spitballs, Vaseline, Humidors, Juiced Baseballs, Pine Tar, Stealing Signs, Garbage Cans[only clean garbage cans], Man stationed in center field with Binoculars, Runners on base stealing signs, etc. As for the latest scandal, it is time to move on.

    Liked by 5 people

  4. No longer care. Actually I’d forgotten all about it until TT reminded me with this survey. Forgetting things comes natural to me these days but I must say the athleticism of both teams has been fun to watch in a very entertaining ALCS.

    Liked by 6 people

  5. I somewhat admire both Houston and Boston because they have assembled good teams. The Dodgers, once again, have the highest payroll in MLB at about $236 Million per season, and the Yankees have the second highest payroll at about $208 Million. It is difficult to like either the Dodgers or the Yankees.

    Liked by 5 people

  7. Forgiveness is Godliness. What have you done for me lately. Que sera sera. All of these sayings is why I voted to let bygones be bygones.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Can’t hold a grudge forever, but cheating is cheating. I don’t think there was adequate punishment, but it’s time to get over it although memory can help it from happening in the future. Human beings are sinners, and always will be.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Perhaps there should be another option to check about organized baseball cheating. It would be “What can you do about it?” Ironic that AJ Hinch, praised as being a genius and Detroit’s savior, was the person in the Astro organization who could have shut down the cheating scandal but did not have the courage to do so.

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    • Hi, Dave – For your consideration, the investigation showed evidence that GM Jeff Luhnow knew what was going on and even green-lighted it. There was 1 analyst who came up with the “Dark Arts” study about how to cheat via technology and he ran it past Luhnow for approval. This guy now has been suspended by MLB. So if Luhnow knew, and approved, wouldn’t that put Hinch in a no-win position? He couldn’t go to his boss because he approved of it but Hinch did try to stop it. But can something be stopped if you know your bench coach and some players who were doing this had the support of the GM? I think it’s telling that Luhnow has effectively (but not officially) been banned from MLB. Everyone is saying that he will never work in baseball again. There is lots of evidence that Hinch was caught between a rock and a hard place. Thanks for adding to the discussion! – Holly

      Liked by 4 people

      • Holly, to your point. Hinch had worked hard for years and had much to do with Astros success. He was worked around and had two choices as you are alluding to. Hinch tried twice to stop it, and I believe he went to Luhnow at one point, and probably was over ruled. Hinch could make the best of a bad situation or he could have walked away in the middle of a pennant race, thus cancelling all his hard work. To this day, A.J. Hiinch is the only member of the Astros who took full responsibility and profusely apologized for what occurred.

        Liked by 4 people

  10. I went with “somewhat disapprove”. I didn’t like the whiners of Boston even before their scandal, and the lack of contrition shown by the Astros players involved still bothers me. While it is time to move on, sincere apologies would have gone a long way towards gaining forgiveness.

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    • I agree TBR. I’ve never been a fan of Boston, but I did like Houston (that is, until I saw the lack of contrition and arrogance on the part of the players). Now I could care less about either team and hope both teams lose to the National League.

      Liked by 1 person

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