The Los Angeles Dodgers are very paranoid that the Houston Astros will attempt to cheat again this year. Based on the prior history between these two organizations, the distrust is understandable.
This year, the ALDS will take place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
With the Oakland A’s and Houston Astros set to participate, there was some chatter about the latter club possibly using the Dodgers’ clubhouse for their outings.
The prospect of that was not well received by people within the Dodgers organization.
“Yeah, we definitely didn’t want Houston in our clubhouse,” one employee told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Luckily for all involved, Oakland has the better regular season record. That entitles them to Dodgers’ clubhouse.
Poor Kyle Kuzma is out here catching strays left and right. https://t.co/fxD23GLi4L
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 5, 2020
The Astros and Dodgers have had a longstanding beef since 2017, when the latter squad was beaten by the former in in the World Series.
Back in January, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that an investigation showed Houston illegally stole signs in the 2017 regular season and playoffs.
Their scheme involved then-bench coach Alex Cora and a number of players observing a live feed of the outings on a screen behind the dugout. They would then decipher the signs and tip off their teammates by whistling, yelling or hitting a trash can with a bat.
One or two knocks would mean a breaking ball was on the way. No noise meant it was a fastball.
Commissioner Manfred’s office went through more than 70,000 e-mails and did over 70 interviews during the course of the investigation.
When it was all said and done, the Astros got fined $5 million and were ordered to give up their draft picks in the first and second rounds of 2020 and 2021.
Nikki immediately reacted to the big night. https://t.co/88VaRXJzpt
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 5, 2020
They did not, however, have to give up the World Series Championship that they stole from the Dodgers.
Needless to say, Los Angeles still feels pretty raw about what transpired in 2017.
Interestingly enough it seems like everyone besides the Dodgers has more or less moved on, though. Cora and former Astros manager AJ Hinch are even in the running to become the next manager of the Detroit Tigers.
How quickly people forget.
Game 1 between the Astros and A’s is taking place on Monday, Oct. 5.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Game 3 for Wednesday Oct. 7.
If a Game 4 is necessary, it will occur on Thursday Oct. 8.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
