The Los Angeles Dodgers reached the World Series in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018, only to be, defeated by the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, respectively, extending their championship drought since 1988.
To make matters worse, it was revealed this past offseason that the Astros were electronically stealing signs during the 2017 regular season and postseason. The Red Sox name also came up in the investigation as former manager Alex Cora was one of the pioneers of the scandal when he was the bench coach for the Astros in 2017.
The Red Sox parted with Cora shortly after MLB announced their findings of the Astros, but they themselves are still awaiting word from the league on a second investigation.
While it is possible that the Dodgers got robbed of two World Series, former Red Sox first baseman Steve Pearce does not believe that is the case. The 2018 World Series MVP retired from baseball this past week, and decided to go on record saying him and his teammates won the championship fairly, via Rob Bradford of WEEI Radio:
“No. That’s such a joke to us,” Pearce said. “When it came out we were all kind of joking about it. We just want this to pass us. We won it fair and square. Whatever they accused us of, we were all kind of like, ‘I can’t believe this is even an issue.’ Once the report comes out we’re all going to be free.”
If what Pearce is saying is true, the Red Sox shouldn’t need to worry about any discipline from the league at the conclusion of the investigation.
The punishments for the Astros included one-year suspensions for general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, who were then fired, a $5 million fine, and the loss of first and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.
MLB decided not to strip the Astros of their championship, so even if the Red Sox are found guilty, they would likely be able to hold on to their trophy as well.
Meanwhile for Pearce, he concludes a 13-year MLB career that included playing for seven different teams. He slashed .333/.500/1.167 with three home runs and eight RBI in five games in the 2018 World Series.
Pearce’s remarks are in line with a sentiment David Price shared about his former club, and the Dodgers reportedly checked with MLB prior to completing a trade with the Red Sox to acquire the veteran left-hander and Mookie Betts.
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