So far, Major League Baseball has gotten rid of the last two managers to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series. We're waiting for the other shoe to fall on the alleged sign-stealing mastermind, the guy who pointed out that Yu Darvish was tipping his pitches in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, Carlos Beltran.
As a Dodger fan, I can say one thing about the demise of A.J. Hinch, Alex Cora and, hopefully, Carlos Beltran:
Good.
But my reaction and opinion on the issue is quite a bit more complex than that.
These are weird times to be a Dodger fan. I'm seeing all different kinds of reactions from L.A. fans over this. Honestly, we don't know how to react to the news that the teams that beat us in the World Series were a bit corrupt.
Some are demanding reparations, you know, that goofy NCAA thing where they take wins and titles away and pretend they never happened. The NCAA deals a lot in fantasy and wishes but that doesn't fly in the real world and you can't erase games that actually happened. I'd never want to take titles away from the Astros and the Red Sox even though they beat my Dodgers and, at least in the Astros' case, used illegal means.
As much as I'm happy that teams are paying for their misdeeds, that's about as far as I want to take it.
It does feel a little better that what I saw in the 2017 World Series now makes a little bit more sense, that THIS makes a little bit more sense. Other than that, it's difficult to express how I feel.
Clayton Kershaw said it best when asked his feelings about the Astros using cameras and such to steal signs in the 2017 postseason. "It sucks!" he said. That's about all you can say. Because your brain is a jumble of "I don't know the proper responses to this."
It's weird. Cheating in baseball has been going on for a long time. Much of it is legal and not really considered cheating -- stealing signs while on the field of play, for example. A lot of baseball people don't even have a problem with using stuff like binoculars, etc., to steal signs. When I talked to Bobby Valentine a couple of months ago his whole feeling was, "This is always going to happen, it's on the the other team to make sure that it doesn't happen."
I'm not sure if I go along with that completely -- using video technology and banging on trash cans seems a bit over the line -- but I do know that this gamesmanship is ingrained into the game. I don't think banishing players or managers forever or bankrupting a team is appropriate punishment.
Also, who knows what every other team was doing? What's going to come out later?
At the same time, my team was wronged. I came across a Dodger card of Alex Cora earlier today and fought the urge to give it to the dog to chew. All the Dodgers are getting out of this mess is the "satisfaction" knowing that Kershaw really wasn't THAT bad when George Springer, etc., were teeing off on him.
I know there are other Dodgers fans struggling with these thoughts.
One of them probably is Lee of Dodger Cardboard & Other Random Finds. I received some cards from him recently, including the Kershaw Gypsy Queen card and the Wolfman card from the 1980 "You'll Die Laughing" card set (I'm currently compiling a stack of Dodgers to send back to him).
We're all in the same boat, Cody Bellinger and his Chrome cards here, Dodger fans in feeling like we've been wronged but not sure what the cost should be or the level of outrage.
The Dodgers of 2017 and 2018 deserved better (this is the metallic version of Kenta Maeda's 2018 Holiday card). And the Astros players involved in the cheating deserve to pay in some way, too, and I don't mean merely that they'll face boos during the season or their card values should go down.
They altered the careers of several players through artificial means, players like Darvish and Kershaw and really anyone who was on the Dodgers that year. (I love this Joc Pederson Holiday relic). Who knows what would have happened if the Astros didn't know what was coming during every at-bat?
I do know I probably shouldn't have to defend my team anymore against every loser who scoffs that the Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988.
At the same time, I would never want any championship retroactively given to my team.
So it's a weird kind of limbo for a Dodgers fan this offseason.
The Dodgers will win a World Series title again at some point. They're too good of team and organization to keep getting shut out.
When that will happen I have no idea.
Comments
We'll just try to adjust and see how this plays out? Will the Astros and Red Sox be only the tip of the iceberg?
In all seriousness I don't know what to make of this scandal, either. I'm glad Cora is gone. He was a terrific manager but the link between both tainted titles is indisputable. Draft picks are going to be lost one way or the other, either through this or the cap/tax penalty. I don't know how much the sign stealing impacted each game/series but I feel for the Dodgers and their fans. They deserve a World Series title. I hope it comes in 2020.
Once the 'cease tech-aided sign-stealing' memo came out they were on notice. They kept at it. They earned the crap falling on their heads now. The fingerpointing at other teams, the 'everyone did it', the 'cheating is part of the game' nonsense... all stuff I heard from elementary school kids caught at something. The Astros thumbed their nose at baseball, ignored the cease and desist mandate and paid the price. And all Hinch had to do was stand up in the clubhouse and say 'Stop'. SMH
You can't take back the title but this may be worse...every time someone mentions the '17 champ someone will add 'but they cheated'.
On a happier note...I'm not a huge fan of GQ but that Kershaw card captures him pretty well.
And yet, I find myself coming to their defense any time their World Championship is questioned. It's practically subconscious. I've been putting my faith in the fact that Manfred and MLB put personnel in the replay rooms to prevent any video shenanigans during that postseason, and just keep telling myself that although the Red Sox cheated their way to a postseason berth, once the playoff games started the wins were most likely earned. Am I wrong? Probably. But that's where my mind keeps going every time. I'm hoping the report provides clarity.
The whole mess is ugly, it'll get uglier, and I truly have doubts electronic cheating is going to go away completely, regardless of whatever punishments are put in place.
I agree with not vacating the WS Championship and I feel bad for the Dodger players as well as others who could have been affected by the scheme.