By now we all know the Houston Astros were caught cheating during their 2017 World Series-winning season and that the head of baseball, commissioner Rob Manfred, didn’t care all that much… because why would he?
Sure, Manfred suspended the team’s GM and manager for a year, and those two guys were quickly fired by the team. But none of the players – the guys who actually devised and carried out the elaborate sign-stealing plan – didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.
Because again, why would baseball care about the integrity of the game, especially since Manfred only thinks the World Series trophy is just a piece of metal?
But here’s there the thing – these players may end up wishing they had been punished because at least then they could would have an answer to all those who are coming out and rightly ripping them for what they did.
It’s a circus for the Astros and MLB right now, which MLB probably likes because people are actually talking about baseball for a change. But this circus is only going to continue to get bigger and bigger all because MLB didn’t have the guts to punish the guilty people.
Monday was supposed to be a quiet Presidents Day where baseball teams quietly made their way back onto diamonds in Florida and Arizona and got to work.
Instead, it was a you-know-what show for baseball. It’s gotten so bad for the Astros and baseball that Mike Trout – Mike freaking Trout, one of the most blandest stars in all of sports – ripped the Astros for their cheating ways and ripped MLB in the process for barely handing out any punishments.
That couldn’t have sat well with Manfred, hearing his boring star tearing him to shreds like that.
Golly, not Mike Trout!
Speaking of Manfred and his offensive comments about the World Series trophy, Dodgers star Justin Turner took an epic shot at baseball’s commish on Monday. And everything single thing he said was right, too.
People also spent Monday investigating Jose Altuve’s tattoo, which was used as the latest excuse for why he didn’t want his shirt ripped off after his ALCS-winning home run.
So yeah, this stuff is just going to go on and on and on and on, mostly because baseball asked for this by not punishing the players. It’s not going to stop. At all. Because how could it, when they were allowed to cheat their way to a title and not get punished for it? This is serious stuff!
Manfred, meanwhile, has done an amazing job of making Roger Goodell look amazing at doing his job.
But say Altuve and others were suspended a bunch of games and the Astros were banned from the playoffs for at least this upcoming season, think things would be a little less volatile around the league?
Yes, of course they would.
The punished Astros players could then say things like: “We were wrong we were punished accordingly for what we did. We’ll serve our punishments and learn from it and then get back to work.”
People might be more understanding if that happened. Probably not, but maybe.
But that didn’t happen and now it’s a beautiful free-for-all to verbally attack the Astros and do-nothing Manfred.
Now just wait for the games to start. This circus is about to be amped WAY UP.
Which can all be blamed on… Rob Manfred.
And the cheating Astros.
What a mess.
Ranking every NBA team from contender… to when’s the lottery?
The NBA is still off for a few more days for the All-Star break, which means it’s a perfect time to see where each team stands as we get ready for the push to the playoffs. Charles Curtis, who is sadly a Knicks fan, does just that right here, as he ranks all 32 teams for where they stand right now.
Quick hits: NBA GIFs… VAR stinks again… Tomlin rips ESPN… And more!
– Speaking of the NBA, here’s every team’s 2019-20 season thus far, summed up in one GIF.
– This might come as a surprise, but VAR was awful again, this time in Monday’s Chelsea-Manchester United match.
– Mike Tomlin went on ESPN and ripped ESPN for their coverage of Mason Rudolph.
– This college umpire really needs to be less sensitive.
– Here are 20 big-name NFL players who could be cut this offseason.