October 27th, 2022 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka When the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series four games to three, it left Dodgers fans – and pretty much the entire baseball world – scratching their collective heads, wondering how a significantly less talented Astros team could defeat a far superior Dodgers team. Then again, as beloved as Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda often said:
“Any team can beat any other team on any given day.”
Lo and behold, the head-scratching ended when it was learned – and confirmed – that then Astros manager (and now Detroit Tigers manager) A.J. Hinch‘s team had employed sign stealing, so that his hitters knew exactly what pitches were coming.
In a word, the 2017 World Seies champion Houston Astros had cheated.
But of even bigger surprise – and concern – for every baseball fan was that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred condoned this blatant cheating by not stripping the Astros of their ill-gotten World Series title and trophy.
Fast-forward to 2022.
Suffice to say, there probably isn’t a Dodgers fan on the planet who expected the best team in baseball, their beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, would be watching the 2022 World Series on television instead of playing in it. But alas, here we are. Instead, the 2022 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies will square off against … yep, the Houston Astros.
Granted, with the advent of the PitchCom system, it is probably safe to say that (now) three-year Astros manager (and former Dodger) Dusty Baker‘s team did not get into the 2022 Fall Classic by cheating – at least (probably) not by sign stealing.
The point here, as if you couldn’t guess, is that no matter who is at the helm of Astros owner Jim Crane‘s team (since 2011), it will be a long time before Dodgers fans – at least die-hard Dodgers fans – considered them as anything other than cheaters. As such, it is safe to say that a good many of them will be rooting for the Phillies to annihilate the Astros in the 2022 Fall Classic, which begins on Friday evening, October 28, 2022, at 5:03 p.m. PT and will be carried on Fox.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
thank you!
could they have won without cheating? we’ll never know but we DO know they cheated.
it chaps my backside when other writers and fans degrade roberts and/or the organization as a whole because they have only one WS win in this string.
we KNOW cora cheated us in ’17 and have every reason to believe that he continued to do so in ’18.
we needed a commissioner to do exactly what the position was created to do; BAN THE CHEATERS
it does continue to amuse me that under AC’s system an undersized 2B player won the MVP and a ring and we boo him incessantly while the ’18 team also produced an undersized MVP LF(2B) and a ring but “we” cheer him feverishly.
This would all be a moot point now if Manfred had done the right thing and suspended the players and stripped them of the title. The extreme resentment is because there were no repercussions for their actions. Where is K Mountain Landis when you need him?
Check out this morning’s piece (but take your blood pressure medicine first).