Ryan Review: Houston Astros confirmed as cheaters and their punishment, from the perspective of a Los Angeles Dodgers fan
So I’m writing this as Jim Crane, the Houston Astros owner, gives his press conference. He just dropped a bombshell that Hinch and Luhnow will not be returning with the team after their suspension. Honestly, he had to do it. MLB confirmed the allegations, so Crane would be a fool to keep them on for a year. He has to distance himself from this whole mess, and that’s the first step.
Hard to say if Hinch or Luhnow will work again in the MLB. I hope that the teams think about the integrity of the game if they consider these two for vacancies.
Anyways…
The 2017 World Series is one that I will never forget. For seven games, I ran to my television and tuned in to watch my Los Angeles Dodgers take on the formidable Houston Astros. I organized gatherings with friends, sat with family, and stayed up into the long hours of the night to watch my boys in blue take on the Texas team. I remember the kid right behind home plate texting during the game (DUDE, GET OFF YOUR PHONE YOU’RE AT THE WORLD SERIES!!!), wearing my jersey with pride at work, watching every electrifying home run hit, and the dread when the Astros went up 5–0 in the second inning of game 7.
SPOILER ALERT: we lost.
Yes, we lost. We. I rise with my team, I fall with my team. Really rough. Second place is not bad, not by a long shot, but the loss hurt real bad. Then rinse and repeat for the 2018 season with the dominant Red Sox.
Now with these cheating allegations out (you’ve heard them, I’m not going into them here) and the punishments doled out, here are my thoughts:
AS A BASEBALL FAN:
The initial one year suspension of Hinch and Luhnow is not enough. Yes, I know, it’s the second longest suspension to ever be pressed, but this does not do enough to discourage teams from cheating. If the trade-off is a WS ring, I think they’ll take the punishment and get the ring. A couple hours later the owner fired the two from the organization, but that was from the team, not from the league. It’s harsh, don’t get me wrong, but this does not do anything to anyone else (besides Cora, still waiting to hear about his punishment) involved, including all the players that benefited from the cheating. No players, no assistant coaches, no one else is getting hit from the fallout of this. At least, not yet. The $5M is probably fair. I’m no expert on the amount of money floating around the teams, so $5M may be fair, it may not be fair. Hard to say for sure. Maybe they will have some issues handing out the “big contracts” in the next year or two, but again, I’m no expert. The 2020 and 2021 draft picks taken from the Astros is big. The Astros are a team that have spent years rebuilding, improving, and using their front office wisely to create a playoff caliber team. This does put a big handicap on them, as that’s two years of prospects and rookies that they won’t be able to harness.
AS A DODGERS FAN:
This isn’t enough. The WS is now tainted to me. We missed it two years in a row, and now we are hearing that the same person is responsible for these cheating allegations the two years that the Dodgers play their hearts out to make it farther than the other 28 teams in the league. The suspensions aren’t enough, I do wish they also handed down some sort of punishments or fines to the players and coaches involved. Altuve’s MVP can’t be taken away, but a big part of me wishes there would be a big asterisk next to his name in the history books. Whatever Alex Cora’s punishment is, it better be big. We’re still waiting to hear the news on him. From the sound of it, he might be the ringleader in charge of both of these cheating scandals, and they both came at the expense of my Dodgers losing two WS. I prefer being positive over negative, but man o’ man his punishment will be one for the books. Like, Pete Rose level big. Of course, if he’s not the one responsible then it’s a whole different story, but the writing is on the wall on that one.
I think the hardest part of this is the memory. Astros fan, through thick and thin, were rewarded for their fandom and dedication to their team. Carlos Correa of the Astros proposed to his girlfriend on the field after the win. The team made history, winning their first ever World Series. They lifted the trophy, got the rings, and celebrated. Meanwhile, I’m at a bar in Burbank, sitting in disbelief with an empty glass and the check in front of me. My Dodgers, the team I have followed since I was a kid, lost. In my lifetime, this was the first time they have ever made it that far. Well, at least I had that. In this painful moment, I find the positive, and move on. Okay, we made it to the WS this year. Next year, we’ll take it. BUT THIS SUUUUUUUUCKS!
My soon-to-be wife and her family are all San Francisco Giants fans, so trust me when I say that I got plenty of ridicule from them. All in good fun of course, they are all great people. Besides, with the sorry state of their team recently I was able to rebuttle. But that’s the fun of being a fan of, really, anything. You put your heart and soul into it, dedicate yourself to it, take the good and accept the bad. I had fun watching the game. I got the opportunity to teach my (then) girlfriend about all the quirky intricacies in the game of baseball. Stealing signs, framing pitches, types of pitches, sacrifice flies, intentional walks, etc. She loved it, or at least nodded along and made decent comments back so that I felt fulfilled while I rambled on about a some stickball game.
Sure, there are some bad apples in the mix, but I love baseball, and they can’t take that away. I’ll bleed blue till the day I die.
GO DODGERS!!!
