The Dodgers were already bruised after an 18–1 beatdown at the hands of the Astros, but the sting got sharper when a familiar voice poked at a still-healing scar. Orel Hershiser, Dodgers legend and longtime broadcaster, didn’t mince words on-air during the blowout. As Astros hitters continued to demolish breaking balls with laser focus, Hershiser leaned into a haunting implication, one that immediately echoed back to 2017.

“I don’t want to open an old wound,” he said, “but in some ways they’re swinging at these breaking balls like they know what is coming.”

It was a loaded line. One that stirred memories of trash cans, buzzers, and stolen signs. But rather than feed the fire, Max Muncy stepped up with a response that balanced blunt honesty and strategic maturity. “Do I think they knew what was coming? Uh, yes, I do,” Muncy said on Foul Territory. “Do I think they were cheating to get there? No. I think they had a tip on the pitcher, and that’s on us to clean that up.”

That right there? That’s the difference between pointing fingers and taking ownership. Max Muncy wasn’t afraid to admit the Astros had an edge, but he wasn’t about to label it as cheating. He explained it for what it was: a classic case of pitch tipping. A subtle tell in rookie Ben Casparius’s delivery might’ve been all Houston needed to unleash an offensive onslaught. “That’s not cheating,” Muncy added. “That’s part of the game… That’s being a smart baseball player.”

The response effectively halted the spread of rumors by steering away from the scandal and focusing on accountability, a move that changed the tone of the conversation significantly. In his eyes, it wasn’t foul play; it was failure to protect your signals. In today’s MLB, teams are constantly looking for edges, and tipping pitches is a goldmine for elite hitters. Spotting a grip or glove position early isn’t espionage; it’s preparation.

And here’s the kicker: Max Muncy admitted the Dodgers do the exact same thing. “We take advantage of that a lot of times, too,” he said. So if the Astros exploited a flaw, they were simply playing smart. No buzzers, no cameras, just baseball IQ.

So while Hershiser cracked open the vault of suspicion, Muncy locked it right back with something rarer in today’s game, accountability with perspective.

 Scary collision halts Max Muncy’s season mid-game

Max Muncy went from making a tag at base to suddenly being on the ground in evident pain as he clutched his leg tightly in a split second during the Dodgers game, against the Nationals on July 2nd. In a turn of events, when outfielder Michael A Taylor sprinted towards base, Muncy jumped to catch the throw and make the tag, only to have Taylor’s head collide with his knee with significant impact, resulting in both players falling down. A routine defensive move suddenly transformed into a chilling moment at Dodger Stadium.

Muncy didn’t just feel the pain; his entire leg went numb. “I was on crutches, so I mean, obviously it was pretty bad,” he shared on Foul Territory. “You get anything around your knee like that, you automatically fear the worst, especially with that kind of impact.” For a moment, the 10-year veteran feared the season, and maybe more, was over. Fans gasped as trainers hurried onto the field to assist Muncy, who couldn’t bear weight on his leg and was escorted for evaluation.

Despite facing challenges along the way, the final result was not as devastating as initially anticipated. After immediate X-rays and mobility checks, Muncy began to feel the tiniest sense of relief. “It didn’t feel as bad as what I thought it would have felt if I had torn something,” he explained. By the next day, scans confirmed it was only a bone bruise, painful, yes, but not season-ending.

In a game where one wrong step can rewrite a career, Max Muncy found himself battered, but not broken.