By every indication, baseball fans who were hoping for a quick resolution to the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal are probably setting themselves up for disappointment and heartache.

Try as he may, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s investigation into the biggest scandal to hit Major League Baseball since the Black Sox Scandal in 1919 and the imposition of whatever punishment he sees fit will more than likely extend at least into Spring Training and possibly into the regular season.

Why, you ask?

Because on Thursday during the final day of the MLB owners meeting in Arlington, TX, the commissioner retracted his earlier statement of: “I have no reason to believe it extends beyond the Astros at this point in time,” now saying: “All 30 Clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”

Even though Manfred did not come right out and say it, the inference is that if investigators in the Astros scandal develope leads that other major league teams may have employed similar sign-stealing methods, the investigation will no longer be solely focused on the 2017 World Series champions. He also said that the investigation has been expanded to include the 2018 and 2019 Astros teams.

“We are going to investigate the Astros situation as thoroughly as humanly possible,” Manfred said. “That investigation is going to encompass not only what we know about ’17, but also ’18 and ’19. We are talking to people all over the industry – former employees, competitors, whatever. To the extent that we find other leads, we’re going to follow these leads. We will get to the bottom of what we have out there in terms of what went on to the extent that it’s humanly possible. I just can’t speculate beyond that.”

If you are a between-the-lines reader, it impossible not to read into this that if, during the investigation of the Astros situation “as thoroughly as humanly possible,” other MLB teams are even hinted as possibly being involved in electronic sign-stealing, they, too, will be investigated. And since electronic sign-stealing is something that can only be done during home games (for obvious reasons), what is the very first thing that investigators will look at?

That’s right … home records; this in spite of the fact that nearly every team in the 150-year history of Major League Baseball has (almost) always had a better record at home than on the road. Obviously MLB investigators are well aware of this, which means they will more than likely focus on teams with significantly large winning records at home … say like the Dodgers, who have now won seven consecutive National League West Division titles with home records of:

• 2013: 47-34
• 2014: 45-36
• 2015: 55-26
• 2016: 53-28
• 2017: 57-24
• 2018: 45-37
• 2019: 59-22

In no way whatsoever is this to infer in any way that the Dodgers – or any other non-Astros team – cheated. It is merely to say that this would undoubtedly be the very first thing that investigators would look at in the event that their investigation uncovered evidence of sign-stealing by teams other than the 2017 Astros and the 2017 Boston Red Sox and 2017 New York Yankees, who were caught stealing signs using an Apple Watch and dugout phone, and for which both teams were fined for sign stealing. That being said, neither of those two instances were even remotely as egregious to what has already been uncovered in the Astros investigation, including video evidence. As such, it would be a shock if sanctions against the Astros were not far more severe, perhaps even vacating their 2017 World Series title, as many are calling for.

Unfortunately, teams that put up good numbers at home simply because they were good at home during that particular season are going to be scrutinized and perhaps even under suspicion all because of the unequivocal cheating by the Houston Astros.

…and that really pisses me off.

You?

Play Ball!

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