The boos. The inflatable trash cans. The feeling that everything the Astros had accomplished will forever deserve an asterisk. Could they have been just one of the teams cheating in 2017? Lucas Giolito seems to think so.
By now, you most likely know the story: the 2017 World Series Champion Houston Astros were later found out to be cheating the whole time. While no individual players were punished, Carlos Beltran was removed from his newly named managerial position for the New York Mets at the time.
Fans have always been incredibly upset by this incident, believing that the Astros cost many teams a run to the World Series that season and were never punished for doing so. But, if you choose to believe Lucas Giolito, the Astros weren’t the only ones cheating in 2017 – they were just the only ones who got caught.
This week, Giolito appeared on the Chris Rose Rotation podcast to discuss the 2022 playoffs and the season for him and the rest of the White Sox. During the discussion, Rose asked Giolito if the Astros needed to win a World Series this year (against the Phillies) to legitimize their impressive six-year run. In this question, he was implying that the Astros weren’t deserving of their 2017 ring – something that many fans have come to believe.
Giolito, however, shared a different opinion than most fans:
“Here’s the thing, it’s like it’s all those teams were cheating then I think. Based on everything I’ve heard, it was like all the teams that were in the postseason that year were doing the same shit.”
“I think that’s also kinda why the players kinda had that half-apology energy when they were apologizing for all this stuff, because they probably knew like, ‘Man we got caught, but everyone was kinda doing this stuff.'”
– Lucas Giolito on “Chris Rose Rotation”
Despite the claims, Giolito is not the first player to suggest that the 2017 Astros weren’t the only postseason team cheating that season. Steven Souza Jr. Chris Sale, Chris Bassitt, Josh Donaldson, Joey Votto, Logan Morrison, and Tyler Glasnow are among those players who have previously suggested that all teams in the 2017 postseason were cheating and that the Astros were just the team that was caught.
This may not change how you feel about the 2017 Astros, but with a White Sox player now strongly coming out with these claims – especially considering Danny Farquhar was the first pitcher to become tipped off to the scandal – it’s become very interesting to see how different players reacted in the initial break of the news to how they are reacting now that they’ve had more time to discuss.
At the end of the day, with the World Series beginning today with the Astros and Phillies, hopefully, there is nothing close to the scandal of 2017 going on today.
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Featured Image: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
