Red Sox: Sabathia claims Yankees were cheated out of World Series

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch in the eighth inning of game four of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch in the eighth inning of game four of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Veteran Yankee’s pitcher CC Sabathia has had plenty to say on baseball’s ongoing sign-stealing investigation of the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox.

The ongoing sign-stealing scandals that involved the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox during their World Series winning campaigns of 2017 and 2018, is pretty much all that’s being talked about in the baseball world at this moment in time. With just a month to go until the beginning of Spring Training, it’s very disappointing that this should be the case.

At a time of year which is usually very exciting for all supporters, a dark cloud has been formed over the sport. Today’s game certainly plays second fiddle to the likes of the NFL and the NBA, but a scandal as big as this is something that can be detrimental.

There are many opinions surrounding what the Astros allegedly did, some vary substantially from others. Ultimately though, sign-stealing in the manner that they did is cheating and views on any form of cheating should be objective.

For Boston fans, it’s another tough time at the moment. The Red Sox have been dragged into the fire after reports came out that the Sox practiced sign-stealing themselves during their own 2018 World Series winning campaign.

Right now, what Boston did seems way less drastic than what Houston did. However, with Alex Cora being the apparent ring-leader in Houston, coming to Boston winning 108 regular-season games and further allegations being made for that year too – that doesn’t look so good on Cora or the Sox.

This week, it was announced that the Red Sox and Alex Cora were parting ways. We’ve found out plenty of things this week and many people whether they’re fans, players or managers have had their opinions on it.

New York Yankee’s veteran pitcher CC Sabathia was the voice for probably a lot of the Evil Empire’s fans, as he claimed that what the Astros and Red Sox apparently did might have cheated his team out of two World Series titles. The Yankees, who won their last title in 2009, came ever so close to reaching the Fall Classic back in 2017, falling short to the Astros in Game 7 of the ALCS. In 2018 the Yanks fell to Boston 3-1 in the ALDS.

"“As everything’s been coming out, and the more facts that we get, it’s getting frustrating…to sit here and know that late in my career I could’ve had a title, maybe (in 2017) or maybe ’18, but we got cheated out (by) a team kind of doing something that’s not within the rules of the game,” Sabathia said."

First of all, CC and the Yankees surely can’t get too worked up over 2018. What the Red Sox did isn’t even known to be true yet, and what they’ve been accused of doing – using the clubhouse screens to steal signs – wouldn’t have been possible in the postseason due to security.

If the Sox did this during the regular season, yes it’s unethical but it’s not anywhere near what the Astros potentially did. CC’s obvious fury at how 2017 turned out is pretty justifiable knowing what we know at this moment in time.

Which is that the ‘Stros used a camera out in center field of Minute Maid Park, and trash can-banging to relay signals to hitters. There’s also the alleged buzzer method – the latter of the three is still very much in the early days of being proven true or not.

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What the Astros are being accused of doing would’ve only been possible at home, and if true it’s very astonishing. Looking at some hitters’ splits, for example, that year’s AL MVP Jose Altuve hitting .472 at home and .143 on the road in the postseason looks rather compelling. As baseball fans, we don’t want this to be true, but if it is then the Astros’ first-ever championship will be tainted for all of time.

That 2017 ALCS saw the Yankees win all their home games, but ultimately drop the series due to four victories for the ‘Stros at Minute Maid Park. In Games 1 and 2 especially, which were both won by the score of 2-1 Houston, one pitch would’ve been the difference-maker.

Both narrow victories set the Astros up nicely, helped push them onto the Fall Classic and lift the Commissioners Trophy after defeating the Dodgers. There are certainly loads of statistics that stand out.

Next. A mistake was made by trading Jhon Nunez. dark

There shouldn’t be any jumping to conclusions until we find out everything we can. Sabathia and the Yankees weren’t cheated out of the 2018 championship because they weren’t as good as the Sox, Astros or Dodgers. 2017 they came close, would they have beaten the Dodgers if they got to the World Series? We’ll never know but you can definitely see why you’d be angry about it if that happened to your team.