2019 MLB World Series Thread

[Mooshashi]

Do the Nationals repeat?

No. Rendon and Strasburg will be gone, they won't pick up Zimmerman's contract. That leaves them with a skeleton crew. They are one and done.

[F l i c k e r]

Brilliant from the Nats. Pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.

[phallus]

No. Rendon and Strasburg will be gone, they won't pick up Zimmerman's contract. That leaves them with a skeleton crew. They are one and done.

Next year the 'Stros will win, lol, unless the Dodgers fire dave roberts

Brilliant from the Nats. Pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.

i loved watching this series, even the entire playoffs for the Nats was watching a guy get beat up and knocked down in the first rounds of a fight to come back and stop the other guy. These old guys showed tremendous heart

[ShoulderRoll]

Congrats to the Nationals. What a great, unexpected story.

[-Kev-]

So recent news came out about Mike Fiers, who pitched for the Astros in 2017, saying that the Astros steal signs using a camera from center field and relay the message to the dugout and the players make loud distinct sounds for certain pitches. According to Fiers, they have a very advanced way of stealing signs and will go “above and beyond” to win.

If you use electronics to steal signs, that’s against MLB rules.

Looks like the Astros are in more hot water. It’s funny because when the cheating accusations intensified, they started doing worse. All eyes were on the cheating so they probably stopped it vs the Nats. And they lost all home games. This is going to be interesting. Not only opposing teams accuse the Astros of cheating, but now also former team members are coming out and saying exactly what it is they do to steal signs.

In 2017 they were fined $500k for cheating vs the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs. But looks like the Indians aren’t the only victims of the Astros cheating.

[-Kev-]

Fiers, who pitched for the Astros from 2015-17 before being non-tendered, blew the whistle on what went down, confirming tales of the center-field camera being connected to a television monitor positioned in a tunnel connecting the home clubhouse and dugout and the banging on the trash can.

“That’s not playing the game the right way,” Fiers told The Athletic. “They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win.” After ousting the Yankees, the 2017 Astros won that World Series in seven games over the Dodgers, with the clincher coming on the road. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged Tuesday that his team was aware of the Astros’ reputation for rule-breaking and put themselves on high alert during that series.

Fiers acknowledged he educated his two employers since then — the Tigers and the A’s — of the Astros’ hijinks. Confirmed A’s general manager David Forst: “I have not spoken to Mike directly about it. I was aware that he had concerns.”

Retired pitcher Danny Farquhar, who made a failed comeback with the Yankees this past season and now works as a minor league pitching coach in the White Sox organization, recalled to The Athletic a White Sox-Astros game at Minute Maid in September 2017 when he stepped off the mound because he strongly suspected Houston knew what was coming.

“There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a changeup signal got put down,” Farquhar told The Athletic. “After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups and they were getting fouled off. After the third bang, I stepped off.”

Shortly after the story launched, Twitter baseball detective @Jomboy_ unleashed footage of a Sept. 21, 2017 matchup at Minute Maid between Farquhar and the Astros’ Evan Gattis. A banging noise can be heard clearly three times before Farquhard prepares to throw a changeup; Gattis took the first one and fouled off the second one before, just as Farquhar said, he stepped off to change his signs with catcher Kevan Smith.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost....r-furious/amp/



Very interesting.

[Theodore]

So recent news came out about Mike Fiers, who pitched for the Astros in 2017, saying that the Astros steal signs using a camera from center field and relay the message to the dugout and the players make loud distinct sounds for certain pitches. According to Fiers, they have a very advanced way of stealing signs and will go “above and beyond” to win.

If you use electronics to steal signs, that’s against MLB rules.

Looks like the Astros are in more hot water. It’s funny because when the cheating accusations intensified, they started doing worse. All eyes were on the cheating so they probably stopped it vs the Nats. And they lost all home games. This is going to be interesting. Not only opposing teams accuse the Astros of cheating, but now also former team members are coming out and saying exactly what it is they do to steal signs.

In 2017 they were fined $500k for cheating vs the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs. But looks like the Indians aren’t the only victims of the Astros cheating.

No wonder they've been so good for the past 3-4 years, throughout much of their existence they've been a mediocre franchise.

I was reading up on the story and yeah, they have a very experience way of bending the rules, from coughing to banging on coolers with their bats to signify what pitches are coming, etc.

[-Kev-]

No wonder they've been so good for the past 3-4 years, throughout much of their existence they've been a mediocre franchise.

I was reading up on the story and yeah, they have a very experience way of bending the rules, from coughing to banging on coolers with their bats to signify what pitches are coming, etc.

Yep. Sign stealing is part of baseball, but they did it electronically which is against the rules.

Clayton Kershaw in 2017 WS:

11 innings, 1 earned run in Dodgers stadium

4.2 innings, 6 earned runs in Minute Maid Park (Astros home)

As the accusations intensified this year, their bats got quieter. They’re still a very good team, but if you’re already very good and then on top of that you start cheating, you’re going to be great. I think with all eyes on them and their cheating next year, they’re going to be a different team.

Also wondering how this will affect the Mike Trout vs Alex Bregman battle for 2019 AL MVP. It’s going to come in to question how much electronic sign stealing helped Bregman get his MVP numbers. The award will be announced on the 14th. Bellinger I think is unanimous for NL. But Trout vs Bregman will be close, and this cheating accusation puts a cloud over Bregman and the Astros.

[-Kev-]

My 2019 Cy Young/MVP Award predictions:

NL Cy Young: deGrom
AL Cy Young: Cole
NL MVP: Bellinger
AL MVP: Trout

[Theodore]

Yep. Sign stealing is part of baseball, but they did it electronically which is against the rules.

Clayton Kershaw in 2017 WS:

11 innings, 1 earned run in Dodgers stadium

4.2 innings, 6 earned runs in Minute Maid Park (Astros home)

As the accusations intensified this year, their bats got quieter. They’re still a very good team, but if you’re already very good and then on top of that you start cheating, you’re going to be great. I think with all eyes on them and their cheating next year, they’re going to be a different team.

Also wondering how this will affect the Mike Trout vs Alex Bregman battle for 2019 AL MVP. It’s going to come in to question how much electronic sign stealing helped Bregman get his MVP numbers. The award will be announced on the 14th. Bellinger I think is unanimous for NL. But Trout vs Bregman will be close, and this cheating accusation puts a cloud over Bregman and the Astros.

The 2019 AL MVP award reminds me a lot of the 2011 NL MVP award. If you remember that was the year that Braun won over Kemp, it was late in 2011 when Braun had a dirty drug test, put a cloud over his accomplishments. Like it or not Bregman is tainted in many people's eyes.