The Houston Astros have received a devastating punishment because of their cheating in their 2017 World Series championship season. The Astros were fined $5 million, their Executive Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season, and four draft picks were taken away from the Astros for their illegal and unsportsmanlike sign stealing situation.

Now, this punishment hurts them. But did Rob Manfred give enough of a punishment or was this enough? No. It wasn’t enough.

This team deliberately stole signs which isn’t illegal in baseball, but it is when you are video taping the signs and then delivering them to your coaches to give to your players tipping pitches. They didn’t just steal signs, they stole games from teams that deserved it way more than them. They completely ruined a whole year of baseball because no one will know who should have won.

The fine should have been higher, players should’ve been suspended and most of all, they shouldn’t have a World Series title for 2017. This cheating stole games from teams. Taking signs from teams is like reading the mind of Lebron James and knowing where he will shoot, knowing where Rodger Federer will hit the ball with his racquet, or where Tom Brady is throwing. This cheating changed the game in a dramatic way and really hurt other teams they played.

The fact that these punishments do not affect the Astros organization in a dramatic way that it should have, considering that they stole a World Series from a team, is a complete and utter shame on Rob Manfred and the entire MLB. This team loses some future picks which are worth roughly $25-30 million, but this team was in the World Series last year, so it won’t really affect them majorly.

The Astros got away with a huge break and deserve to rot in history as cheaters who stole the coveted World Series trophy from someone who was better than them.

Sources: https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2020/1/14/21064635/astros-sign-stealing-punishment-mlb-jim-crane-rob-manfred-jeff-luhnow-aj-hinch