“We Needed to Create Our Own System”- Carlos Beltran Opens Up on Houston Astros 2017 Scandal

The Astros scandal of the 2017 season has to be the worst ever in MLB history. Even after five years of that incident, no one has forgiven the Astros for their cheating. Notably, the same year, they also won the World Series title.

Former Astros player Carlos Beltran recently opened up about the incident and admitted that the sign-stealing helped them win the World Series title. During the 2017 season, the Astros organization had created their own system, which benefited them by tracking the signs used by opposition players during the live game.

And now, years after that scandal, a former Astros player Carlos Beltran has openly accepted that it did help them win the 2017 World Series title.

Carlos Beltran admits that the scandal helped his former team win the 2017 World Series

Talking to Michal Kay of YES Network, Beltran admitted that the Astros did cross the line in 2017. While he also expressed that even after knowing what they were doing was wrong, the organization never asked them to stop. 

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“Yes, we did cross the line…,” Carlos Beltran said. “I wish I would’ve asked more questions about what we were doing. Nobody really said anything.” 

Beltran also told why the Astros used the sign-stealing in the 2017 season. “We felt that when teams are coming to our ballpark (Minute Maid Park), we felt that some teams have something going on. So we felt that we needed to create our own (system). And that’s what happened,” added Carlos Beltran.

What is sign-stealing in baseball?

Ever since the inception of the game of baseball, batters or runners have been trying to decode the signs exchanged between pitchers and catchers regarding the next pitch. And in most cases, rarely does any player decode their signs.

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And to get rid of this problem, the Houston Astros installed a system close to their dugout, from where they could easily decode the signs of opposition players. And eventually, in the same year, they won the World Series title.

However, after finding out what they had done, MLB suspended the Astros’ manager A. J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow for a year. While MLB also fined the Astros $5 million and restricted their draft picks for a year.