The MLB has had different scandals in the years from when the White Sox threw a playoff series to Pete Rose betting on games to Steroids hitting the league. This year, one of the biggest may have hit the league the hardest. When the Astros were found guilty of stealing signs from teams using a camera in center field and relaying it off a garbage can.

The videos speak for themselves. You can clearly hear the sounds of the garbage can getting hit when the Astros hitters are about to get into the box. They got hit with penalties like one year suspensions for their general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch who would later be fired by the league owner. A five million dollar fine to the team, a forfeit of the their first and second round draft picks for the next two years. 

The teams in the league have not taken those penalties too well. Teams think it’s a terrible punishment and not fair. The Astros should be hit with more of a punishment. They won a world series while cheating and basically stole a victory from the whole league. 

It’s not just the Astros getting hit with these allegations, other teams are hit with losses, too. The Boston Red Sox have let go of their manager Alex Cora because of his work within the organization being a bench coach for Houston that year. The New York Mets have lost their newly named manager Carlos Beltran as he played on the Astros in that championship run. It was only 77 days after the hire. 

The integrity of the league is in jeopardy. It’s almost everyday a new piece of information comes out saying something about either a new coach or player stepping down or that other teams have done unethical things. Just this month a piece of info from the 1980’s Chicago White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell who said Tony La Russa’s team was stealing signs.

The league hasn’t hit any players with fines or suspensions yet, but I expect that at some point. Players like Josh Reddick and Jose Altuve have been caught with buzzers on their chest which when used tells you which pitch is coming with shocks to your chest. A video of Altuve has surfaced of him rounding the bases after hitting a walk-off home run in the ALCS and mouthing to his team “don’t rip off my jersey.” There’s an even closer look of Altuve showing a little bump on his chest. 

The league has to do something more than ever right now. They need to work on the suspensions, work on a way to stop the cheating and work on a way to make everyone happy without fudging it up.