The Astros Deserve Their Punishment For Cheating, But Was It Severe Enough?

Major League Baseball’s release of their report (along with punishment) of the Houston Astros cheating scandal sent shockwaves through the sports world earlier this week. Three notable World Series champions have lost their jobs over the past few days, and everyone has had some time to reflect following some immediate hot-takes.

 

The Astros were a pretty likable team during the championship run a few years ago, going from the basement to developing a bunch of homegrown talent—it looked like a team that did things the right way. Now, we need to put that aside and look at things from an objective perspective.

 

Based on the numbers, the benefit of illegal sign-stealing is undeniable. Here are the home and road splits for the Astros during their 2017 World Series run:

 

Home vs. Road Splits (2017 Postseason)

 

Record

Home (8-1) | Road (3-6)

 

Runs Per Game

Home (5.7) | Road (3.0)

 

Batting Average

Home (.273) | Road (.208)

 

Home Runs

Home (18) | Road (9)

 

On-Base Percentage

Home (.343) | Road (.284)

 

Slugging Percentage

Home (.519) | Road (.347)

 

I know how it is: sometimes a team can just be “feeling it” at home for a postseason series while falling into a funk on the road for whatever reason. But to have a large sample size of 18 games like this, it’s impossible to ignore the impact cheating might have had on the 2017 postseason and eventual world title for Houston.

 

Those that have played sports probably have tried to toe the line and get an edge at one point or another during a game, but the Astros went much further than trying to pick things up in the heat of a nine-inning contest. The report makes it sound like an elaborate scheme where the Astros batters knew what pitches were coming in a very cheap way.

 

The only time stealing signs via video might not have much of an impact is when a baserunner is on second base, as signs are then switched up, and it’s not as simple as the typical one finger for four-seam fastball, two fingers for a breaking ball, etc. Trying to infiltrate an opposing team’s signs is like a game within the game—bench players try to do it all the time, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, zooming on a catcher’s signs and then relaying it to the batter is an entirely different story; it is a significant upper hand for the batter as opposed the minor edge from stealing signs the old fashioned way. The use of video versus stealing signs with the naked eye would have been like Paul Revere using today’s high-tech reconnaissance to track the enemy and alert his allies instead of going on “The Midnight Ride”.

 

There has been some talk that using video to steal signs doesn’t make a big impact, but Major League Baseball’s report states that former Astros manager A.J. Hinch removed the monitor twice because he did not like what was going on, only for it to be re-installed—a considerable number of Houston players clearly wanted the sign-stealing operation to continue, indicating the impact was indeed notable, at least for a few members of the team.

 

The punishment was swift and severe: year-long suspensions for general manger Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch, the loss of first- and second-round draft picks the next two years, and a $5 million fine. However, in the court of public opinion, it seems the punishment was not severe enough, especially in the eyes of many former players and current league executives.

 

The slope could be too slippery, as it could later come out that more teams cheated the way the Astros (and potentially the 2018 Red Sox) have. Multiple world championships being stripped (many would like to see Houston’s rings taken away) would be a terrible look for baseball.

 

This does certainly impact the legacy for the champion Astros and their players, and cheating will now likely be the first thing associated with the 2017 squad as a whole. The roster does appear to be fortunate to avoid any asterisks on their title or individual statistics, which many people would probably be in favor of, though. As Alex Rodriguez has shown by being welcome throughout baseball—including as a key face of MLB coverage on television—despite being a cheater that lied about his PED use, the cheating scandal shouldn’t do much to impact Houston’s players individually. Could it impact a Hall of Fame case for someone like Jose Altuve or Alex Bregman? Possibly, especially if they are on the borderline, but they still have long careers to show people they are great players on their own.

 

The key for Major League Baseball is that the punishment does send a clear message (it cost Luhnow and Hinch their jobs) without having to have a massive black eye on the sport by stripping a World Series champion of a title. There is a definite integrity issue that many fans—not to mention the Los Angeles Dodgers (lost to the Astros in 2017 and then the Red Sox, also under investigation for cheating, in 2018) and some of the pitchers that faced Houston’s hitters over the years—will still have a tough time of getting over.

 

Overall, it is a sad situation for the sport, but at least Major League Baseball went severe on the punishment, even if it wasn’t quite severe enough.