The 4 month ordeal is finally over. Ken Rosenthal tweeted out Wednesday afternoon confirming that the 2018 Red Sox were reportedly stealing signs but on a lesser scale than the 2017 Astros. They never came out with what evidence they have to back up that statement as we still await that or we may never find out exactly what they found. This investigation was sloppy, unprofessional, and filled with gaps. Rob Manfred back in November when he punished the Astros for their scandal got a lot of backlash from fans, disagreeing with his punishments.
In the punishment it looks as if replay operator J.T Watkins was the conductor of this whole cheating scandal which should make Red Sox fans feel a little bit better that they could not find any hard evidence of any Alex Cora wrongdoing. Watkins has been suspended through the 2020, and 2021 seasons. Alex Cora still remains banned from Baseball but only for his role in the 2017 Astros cheating scandal.
Since this whole ordeal began many Red Sox players spoke out about the investigation, including players who are no longer on the team. Mookie Betts, Joe Kelly, David Price, and most recently Steve Pearce claimed that the 2018 title was legit and won fair and square. Steve Pearce is the most interesting one to speak out about the investigation since it started because he did not actually have to say anything as he was just announcing his retirement at the time last week. “That’s such a joke to us. When it came out we were all kind of joking about it. We just want this to pass us. We won it fair and square. Whatever they accused us of, we were all kind of like, ‘I can’t believe this is even an issue.’ Once the report comes out we’re all going to be free.”
Here is a full timeline of the investigation from start to finish, not including how many times the investigation was delayed.
January 7th 2020: Rosenthal reports that the 2018 Red Sox illegally stole signs in the 2018 season when they eventually won the World Series vs the Dodgers.
January 13th 2020: Manfred rules on the 2017 Astros cheating scandal, and found hard evidence against Alex Cora. Manfred came to the conclusion that he was the mastermind behind the whole scandal.
January 14th 2020: Alex Cora was fired from the Red Sox because of his role in the Astros scandal shortly after the Astros fired A.J Hinch.
January 16th 2020: Mets manager, Carlos Beltran resigns from the Mets just 3 months after becoming their manager.
January 21st 2020: An LA Council unanimously approves a measure requesting that the 2017, and 2018 World Series titles be awarded to the Dodgers. Manfred dismisses the idea of forcing teams to vacant titles a day later.
February 16th 2020: Manfred refers to the World Series trophy as a piece of metal which causes backlash from players.
March 26th 2020: Rob Manfred says that they are not finished investigating the Red Sox and there has to be another delay due to the other problems they have.
April 22nd 2020: Rob Manfred punishes the Red Sox.
19 year old criminal justice & Journalist major from Massachusetts.
