One of the biggest scandals in the MLB off-season was the cheating scandal from the 2017 Astros, who went on to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series that year. Many people have been calling for the MLB to strip them of that title because of the allegations against the Astros. I personally do not think that the MLB will ever strip a title from a team, just because you can’t go back and fix the past, so there is no use in changing who is listed as the 2017 World Series winner.

This off-season has seen the firing of Astros GM, Jeff Luhnow, and head coach, AJ Hinch, as well as public apologies from the owner and several players. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of the MLB, has come out and publicly said that the Astros apology was “not successful”. People all over the nation have made fun of the Astros, saying that the word sorry must not be in their vocabulary. Jim Crane, owner of the Astros, kept deflecting on how stealing signs doesn’t really impact the game, and this turned into a PR nightmare.

The biggest question is how do you feel about all this? In my opinion, stealing signs is a part of the game. The thing that makes it wrong is the use of technology in stealing the signs. In my opinion the Astros are 100% in the wrong on this situation, and their lack of sincerity is only making the situation worse for them. This scandal is giving the MLB a bad look, and I think this scandal, and the handling of it by the MLB is going to make people furious one way or the other. Astros fans are upset about the suspensions and fines on their administration and players, and everyone else is upset that the MLB did not take away the 2017 World Series title, and how the public apology from the Astros was so terrible.

This scandal is a great big mess that is just bad for baseball. Something baseball hasn’t seen since the giant steroids scandal in 2013. Baseball is America’s pastime, so any form of cheating is looked upon very heavily by the public, and some things will get you banned for life, such as Shoeless Joe Jackson and 7 other men from the 1919 White Sox. For those who are unfamiliar with the 1919 Black Sox scandal, 8 men from the heavily favored White Sox were paid to lose games by a gambler who had money on these games. They were caught by the MLB and all banned for life.

While I don’t think this is near as bad as that scandal, the Astros and Major League Baseball have let this situation get out of control and everyone associated with this is unhappy about it. I think that this scandal was handled poorly from the top down, and now the Astros and the MLB have to face the consequences of that.