In the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Astros won a thrilling series that went seven games. At the time it looked like the Astros won their first ever World Series championship. After numerous investigations, the Astros were suspected of cheating during the 2017 playoffs.

The Astros fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for their participation in the sign stealing. Now that the Astros have been caught cheating, their 2017 World Series title will always be tainted. 

The way that the Astros cheated by stealing the opposing teams signs is very in depth. The cheating occurred when the Astros were playing at their home field and when they were up to bat. The Astros had a camera placed in centerfield that would zoom in on the opposing catcher. The camera would be able to capture the sign that the catcher is realaying to the opposing pitcher. One of the assistant coaches in the dugout had a tablet the would get the live feed from the camera in centerfield of what sign the opposing catcher was calling. 

Most baseball signs are the same for every team. The Astros knew signs and would relay them to their batters that were up at the plate. The Astros in the dugout would make a series of loud taps on a trash can which would indicate the batter what pitch was going to be thrown by the opposing pitcher. When there was a fastball there was no banging of a trash can. When the Astros saw that there was a curveball, changeup, or some type of offspeed pitch, There was a loud banging noise from the dugout.

There has been a lot of talk of stripping the Astros of their title. There were several penalties that came from the conclusion of the Astros cheating. Before they were fired, A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow were to be suspended for one year, The team was fined five million dollars by the league, and the team will lose many draft picks in the 2020 and 2021 MLB draft.

I personally believe that the Astros should have their title taken away because they cheated to win their title. If the situation were to play out like I think it should, The Astros will be stripped of their title and the Dodgers would be crowned the champions of 2017. Even with all of the consequences that the Astros are receiving, they should have their title taken away as well.

There are are ideas spreading that the players should be fined from the 2017 team. The reason for this is because the players knew it was going on and they were part of the cheating. Carlos Beltran who played his last season for the 2017 Astros, was just hired by the New York Mets to be their next manager. The Mets are debating on if Beltran should be fired for his role in the 2017 sign stealing scandal.

I personally do not think that Beltran should be released. Even though that he may have played  a role in the cheating scandal in 2017, he was a player and not a coach. I believe that the coaches should get punished more so than the players.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was on the Houston Astros during their 2017 run. Cora played a key role in the cheating. Cora led the Red Sox to a World Series Title in 2018. Cora was just fired for his key role in the Astros cheating. Cora would not have been fired if it had not been for what he did in 2017. You do not usually see a manager get fired the year after winning the World Series.

All in all, the Astros will have to live with the fact that they did not really win the World Series in 2017. The title will still be in their name for now, but it does not have as much value since they cheated their way to the top.