The Brewers said the same thing about LA when they met in the 2018 NLCS but of course if you have no proof for MLB then no investigation. Now if you have a rat and its the Astros then I guess they look into it. Funny how that works......
Did the Dodgers also finally stop their cheating? Yet they're still good. Like, historically good (except at winning the final round). It suggests, similar to the Astros, that they didn't need to cheat and they're incredibly good regardless.
The problem is the Astros advanced the art of quickly decoding the signals just like they were better at positioning players defensively. So they were better at some aspects of cheating than all the other cheaters.
The bigger story has always been about making the Astros the 'lone wold scapegoat'. Wouldn't have been feasible in most other big baseball markets as most other media members wouldn't go hard against markets that they eventually aspired to cater to. They rode that story for almost 365 consecutive days. The Athletic still exists solely because of that story. People knew this was a rampant problem yet continued to single out the one team they knew they likely wouldn't get much blow-back over... and by that point, the mob mentality had already run away with the narrative that the Astros were the sole originators in sign stealing. One day there will be a mitchell-report like expose on all of this.... and at that point the media will be compelled to admit the full extent of the problem, but much like the steroid era still keeps out Bonds/Clemens/A-Rod/McGwire out of the HOF, some teams will always have that "association" regardless.
When and if this type report comes out and MLB has concrete evidence, if I were the Astros front office I would be in MLB's headquarters the next morning demanding reoperations. We lost draft picks, our coach, and GM, and a stigma attached to us that had to weigh heavy on the players. I live in NY and the "go to" when folks see me in Stros garb is the side eye, inevitable cheaters comment. It will always be the narrative here regardless of if the Dodgers, Red Sox, or Yankees get implicated in the future. It's the Yankees fans coping mechanism because we have owned them for many years now. "Dude, we swept you". reply, "Cheaters". That's all they have
They have to keep the myth that NYC is special (in a good way) going in the face of all the evidence to the contrary. BTW, I fully expect all those who buy into that myth to attack my character.
There won't be reparations. The Astros got to keep their title without any strings or asterisks or footnotes. Thanks to all the attention, it will always be one of the most infamous titles in MLB history.... and thanks to the Astros continued run of dominance, it will actually be better validated as it won't merely be some outlier as a result of cheating (unlike the steroid guys who's HR records will always be scrutinized as they never had a chance to "prove it" later on). And if this run of dominance is truly extended into year 10 and beyond, this will be akin to what the Patriots were able to overcome in the NFL when "spygate" was a much bigger deal when first uncovered than it is thought of now. Just keep winning. I know a lot of Yankees fans who have admitted the Astros are just that good after crying about it prior. Keep in mind the Yankees have never been dominated like this EVER in the 100+ year history of their existence, so those generations of fans really don't know what to do in this situation.
They were using video to decode signs. They would then relay that information to the hitter after knowing what sequence the signs would be delivered in. Its basically the same... decoding/code-breaking is more necessary when there's a runner on base as that's when they "change" the signs. I'm sure somebody figured out whether or not the Astros benefitted (apparently they didn't, but not enough to actually stop it)... but one could take it further to see if they actually benefitted with nobody on base. Because THAT was the only time the Astros system truly differentiated from what other teams were already "well ahead of the curve" in doing.
Literally every (good) team was using the video room to decode signs. But the Astros had a second system, to directly relay those signs to the batter, via bangs. It is a big differentiator. I'm not saying other teams weren't also relaying signals directly to batters somehow, but until that evidence comes out, yes the Astros system was more egregious.
There is no point in decoding signs if you dont plan to relay to the batter before they swing. Either through a runner on 2nd or something else
Exactly.... but sending through a guy on 2nd (when everyone knows it is possible) is VERY different than sending it all the time. Literally every team uses a guy on 2nd to relay info.
Absolutely but we've already heard allegations of other teams doing damn near the same thing as the Astros only via other means (massage gun on dugout bench, apple watch, etc.). To me, no one gets the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the Astros were the most consistently effective w their means, something that tracts bc we were ahead of almost everyone in almost every other facet of the game, but... BUT... all of these teams, especially the competitive ones (us, yanks, LAD, Sox, etc.) were playing in the same damn sandbox, and we've had far too many credible players come out and say the exact same thing.
The biggest differences 1) The Astros had an ex player with an axe to grind who talked to the media. 2) MLB needed to contain the story and protect the NY and LA markets. 3) The Astros were disliked in MLB circles for the sweeping changes they were bringing and the abrasive nature of the GM and front office. None of that has anything to do with what ALL teams were doing.
