One of the biggest stories to unfold over the offseason was the Houston Astros being found guilty by Major League Baseball for electronically stealing signs during their 2017 World Series championship run.
The Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games that year en route to their first title in franchise history. It has since been revealed the organization installed a camera at Minute Maid Park to capture signs from opposing teams.
After a lengthy investigation conducted by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Houston was fined $5 million and stripped of their first-and-second-round draft picks over the next two seasons.
Former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were additionally suspended for the 2020 season, only to be subsequently fired by owner Jim Crane.
While those penalties represent some of the most significant in MLB history, the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship was left untouched. Many players and fans felt the title should have been vacated to protect the integrity of the sport.
During an appearance on the “Mason & Ireland Show” of ESPN Los Angeles, Larry King not only shared that sentiment, but added the Dodgers should be recognized as the rightful champions:
“At that series, which was a strange series. It was a strange series. But in that fifth game, we were ahead by four runs. Kershaw comes in and I said to my oldest son or youngest son, ’They know what’s coming.’ I never saw Kershaw rattled around like he was there. Great pitchers don’t get hit like that. Yeah, of course they can lose a game, but they were teeing off. It just rankled me.
“And then when I learned the true story of what the Astros were doing, of course I was surprised it was to that extent, but you look at their road averages and home averages, yes I would vacate that pennant. I would go so far as to give it to the Dodgers.”
King later conceded that the Dodgers actually being crowned champions is a bit far-fetched:
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess we can’t do that. But it wouldn’t hurt to be acknowledged. For baseball, that is as black a mark as the 1919 White Sox. It might be worst than Pete Rose. That is direct cheating. That is taking advantage of the other club by using technologies. Just totally, totally wrong. No excuse for it.”
While most Dodgers players didn’t hold back when discussing the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal during Spring Training, the consensus among the group was that they didn’t want to be handed the 2017 World Series championship.
The organization looked to quickly move past the incident and directed their focus to the 2020 season. However, those plans changed when MLB indefinitely delayed the start of the campaign due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
