Even though the Houston Astros won the championship in 2017, it will remain a tainted one in everyone’s eyes. Notably, the Astros were accused of sign stealing throughout the season. Had it been for Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, this incident may have never come to light.

Once their detailed report saw daylight, the Astros were heavily criticized from every corner of MLB town. And one of them was none other than Derek Jeter.

Derek Jeter’s opinion on the “theft”

This news became a big deal for the baseball community, and many athletes weighed in with their opinions about the incident. The then-MArlins CEO, Derek Jeter, gave his opinion on the cheating scandal as well. In a live interview in a training facility in Florida, the Yankees legend told reporters, “It’s unfortunate; it’s a black eye for the sport. I mean, that’s the bottom line.” Further, the athlete stated that everybody has tried to get that extra edge to win the match, but the team took it too far and is now paying the price for their act.

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While talking about the incident’s longevity, the athlete highlighted that this incident is going to hurt for a while as everyone in the sport was talking about it. “We’re continuing to talk about it, and the sport continues to talk about it, so yeah, it’s sort of like the PED era.”

This was true as the fans did not spare the team’s players and received their fair share of boos at spring training in 2020. One month after the punishment, the owner of the team, Jim Crane, with his top-tier players and manager, Dusty Baker, also held an apology press conference and addressed the punishment.

MLB punished the Astros:

Per multiple reports, the Astros had changed the camera positions using illegible devices to steal signs from the center field of the match. The team had used the technique all throughout the 2017 season.

After this news, an investigation was held by MLB’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, which proved the allegations right. In January 2020, MLB punished the Astros with a fine of $5 million dollars, and the managers were also suspended for a year. Later, they were also fired by the Astros. Besides this, the teams also lost their first and second draft picks for two years.

Overall, the situation was quite tense for the team as the whole management face severe critics and harsh words from the community. However, the Astros has come far since the incident.

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