MLB: The Houston Astros cheating scandal may lead to problems for the Boston Red Sox

We are still a few months away from the start of the 2020 MLB season. However, it seems that the 2020 season will be difficult for the Houston Astros. After months of investigating, Major League Baseball announced the punishment for the Astros for cheating to win the 2017 World Series. It’s worth noting, the first one in the franchise. As reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN, both AJ Hinch (Houston Astros Manager) and General Manager Jeff Luhnow were both suspended for one season. It’s worth noting that the Astros did end up firing both of them after that came out.

CBS Sports laid out the rest of the punishment. The Astros were also fined with a $5 million dollar fine. This is the maximum allowed by MLB. While Hinch and Luhnow were both suspended and later fired, Former Assistant General Manager Brandon Taubman was suspended for one year. Finally, the Astros would end up forfeiting the first and second-round picks for the next two years. While the Houston Astros have done damage, it seems they are not the only team being looked at for stealing signs. There are reports that the Boston Red Sox is being looked into as well by Major League Baseball. The reason for this investigation is for stealing signs when they won the 2018 World Series.

There’s another reason why Major League Baseball is looking into them as well. The manager of the Red Sox since 2018 is Alex Cora. Prior to becoming the manager of the Red Sox, Cora was the bench coach of the 2017 Houston Astros. As it was made in the nine-page report released by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Alex Cora was the one who pushed for the stealing signs. As of this writing, the punishment for Cora has not been announced. However, reports are indicating that it will probably be worst than what happened to AJ Hinch.

Both teams should be ashamed of what they did. When you look at both the 2017 and 2018 postseason numbers, there needs to be an asterisk mark. As far as the punishment goes, the Astros got off very easy. This is worse than Pete Rose and what the White Sox did in the 1919 World Series. I say it’s worse than what the White Sox did because they need to cheat in the whole postseason. This puts a dark cloud over Major League Baseball.

I know there were people who thought that Carlos Beltran would be looked into because he was apart of that 2017 team. However, it doesn’t seem that MLB will be looking into him because he was only a player.

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