One of the biggest storylines to unfold this offseason was MLB finding enough evidence that the Houston Astros electronically stole signs at Minute Maid Park during the 2017 season.
Historic punishments were levied against the organization, including the loss of multiple draft picks over the next two years and a $5 million fine. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were additionally suspended for the 2020 season, only to subsequently be fired by Astros owner Jim Crane.
Considered one of the biggest scandals in MLB history, multiple Los Angeles Dodgers players and staff members have voiced their opinions on everything that has transpired to this point.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted to feeling frustrated while president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Clayton Kershaw believe the Astros haven’t shown enough remorse for their actions.
Ross Stripling was among those to express his frustration and during which revealed that the Dodgers were wary of the Astros heading into their 2017 World Series matchup. “Man, you know, in 2017 we knew that there was stuff going on,” he said.
“You can just tell, they just seemed to be a step ahead of us in multiple situations. Certain at-bats you can really look at and be like, Brandon Morrow hasn’t gotten touched all postseason and now all of a sudden he’s grinding through innings like we haven’t seen.
“So in 2017 we kinda knew it and got over it, and then kinda comes out like it did a few months ago, and all of a sudden we’re reliving it. We’re angry. Obviously you don’t get a punishment like that if things weren’t found out, so it’s pretty clear that cheating happened.
“They got the max penalty, they lost draft picks, guys lost their jobs and more looks like it’s coming. I think if you were gonna ask us, we would say we’re happy people got punished for doing what they did, but also we were over it two years ago and now it’s time to move on to 2020.”
While many fans believe the Astros’ World Series championship should be vacated, the consensus among Dodgers players is that they don’t want the title awarded to them.
Residing in the Houston area, Stripling admitted the sign-stealing scandal has been more difficult to deal with. “Yeah, It’s been tough,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I have a lot of friends and people that know baseball, but don’t really know baseball and don’t understand, and kind of would say the things along the lines of, ‘well they still have to hit the ball’, and that kind of stuff. And I would kind of say like dude, it’s like being in football and knowing the play call ahead of time.
“It altered history and it alters every game that they played in, and every outcome. And now that the punishment came out, I was kind of happy that I could go back to those people and be like, hey now do you kind of see what was going on.
“So being in Houston was tough, I definitely probably talked about it twice as much as anyone else besides maybe you guys. I’m glad the punishment came out, I’m glad they basically came down hard on them. Now all the Houstonians that I battled with for the last couple years have an idea of what really was happening.”
Stripling also detailed the advantages the Astros’ hitters had knowing what pitches were coming. “These guys get paid millions and millions of dollars to do it without having a clue of what’s coming,” he began.
“And they do it with us as pitchers also getting paid a lot of money to be as deceptive as we possibly can. That is my job. My job is to keep you off balance, and that’s the only reason I’m out there. I’m out there to be prepared and to make it to where you have no idea what’s coming.
“And now all of a sudden you take that away from me, that is literally my job, and you’re now taking that away from me. And now you have the best players in the world at what they do, knowing exactly what’s coming ahead of time, and possibly knowing what side of the plate it’s coming and all sorts of things.
“It is absolutely game-changing. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events and more!
