Astros vs. Dodgers: 4 Years Later, LA Still Hasn’t Forgotten

It’s been four years since the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Houston Astros in the infamous 2017 World Series— the one which the Astros stole by illegally decoding signs and banging on trash cans. Needless to say, tension between the two clubs still hasn’t boiled over.

On Tuesday, Dodgers’ third baseman Justin Turner, a member of the 2017 World Series team, posted a picture on his personal Instagram account in front of a Minute Maid Park trash can with the caption “Comments welcomed!!” While Turner was smiling in the picture, the picture’s sarcastic and instigating caption implied how he truly feels— bitter and resentful.

Why the bad blood?

According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Dodgers are still seething over the fact that Major League Baseball didn’t adequately punish the Astros.

Yes, former Astros manager AJ Hinch and bench coach Alex Cora were suspended for a year, but now they’re both managing again in the Big Leagues— Cora with the Boston Red Sox and Hinch with the Detroit Tigers. Jeff Luhnow, Houston’s general manager at the time, was suspended by the MLB and fired by the Astros, but for other reasons not involving the cheating scandal.

Meanwhile, the Houston players that benefitted from the scandal however, received no penalty. On top of that, the MLB didn’t strip away the World Series title from the Astros, even after the Astros were indeed found guilty of cheating.

Ultimately the straw that broke the camel’s back came when the league issued a league-wide memorandum threatening teams with hefty fines and suspensions should they try to retaliate against Astros players with beanballs.

Ok, but what’s the big deal?

As legendary University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido once told his team, “this isn’t about a game, this is about our lives.”

To many, baseball is just a game, but to those who are fortunate enough to play professional baseball, baseball is more than just a game, it’s their livelihood. Every game, jobs are on the line and more importantly money is at stake— thousands, if not millions at play.

We’ll take Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw for example. Back in 2017, the then thirty-year-old left-hander had a player option for the 2018 season. At the time, Kershaw had solidified himself as a dominant regular-season pitcher, but a mediocre postseason pitcher. Kershaw had accumulated just about every personal accolade possible but he had yet to win a World Series title.

As an impending free agent, a World Series ring could have given Kershaw much more leverage had he decided to test the free agent market. Now, granted Kershaw loves Los Angeles and it was almost certain that Kershaw would accept the player option, but needless to say, in 2017 Kershaw not only lost the World Series, he potentially lost the opportunity to cash in on a major free agent deal.

So he lost a couple million, so what?

Kershaw is just one instance. But just like Kershaw, other Dodger players were negatively impacted. Worst of all, we’re not even discussing about the players on American League teams who the Astros defeated en route to reaching the World Series.

Yes, it may sound trivial to hold a grudge for so long, but grudges don’t go away easily in baseball, especially when so many people (players and families included) were negatively impacted by the sign-stealing scandal and more importantly, justice has yet to be served.

It doesn’t matter how many half-hearted apologies the Astros’ players say on camera, it is difficult to believe them when they knowingly inflicted damage on other teams, gleefully cheated their way to a World Series ring and benefitted from league-wide protection courtesy of the Commissioner’s Office.

Ultimately, until justice is served, the bad blood, resentment and bitterness will continue to prevail.

As Dodger manager Dave Roberts told ESPN, “The world doesn’t really appreciate cheating.”