Astros Scandal Still Lingers on Los Angeles Dodgers as They Compete in Minute Maid Park
The Minute Maid Park opened at full capacity on Tuesday to cater the match between Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros. However, the Astros scanda that occurred in 2017 still lingers for the Dodgers due to their loss four years ago.
Alabama.com reported that the match between the two teams is live-streamed on Fubo TV, and Fox Sports 1 will televise the Dodgers-Astros MLB 2021. Dodgers are 29-18 this season while the Astros are 26-21. The game started at seven in the evening while 8 in the evening for the eastern states of America.
ESPN reported that Astros' Manager Dusty Baker allegedly saw a handful of Dodgers' fans on his way to the ballpark early Tuesday afternoon. Baker expected a lot of energy in the building later that night.
Dodgers-Astros MLB 2021 on Minute Maid Park
With their match held in Minute Maid Park, Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said in his pregame press conference with the press that playing in the stadium is "something weird." "I know it's a while ago, but I don't know, there's something weird there," said Barnes adding that they just want to beat their opposing team once they set out to the stadium.
What Barnes was talking about is the Astros scandal that happened on World Series games in 2017, which paved the way for the Los Angeles Dodgers' loss against the Astros. ESPN reported that in 2019, Mike Fiers revealed that the Astros established a system to decode and communicate the opposing catcher's signs in real-time while watching from a monitor and then banging on a trash can to let them know how an off-speed pitch was coming.
The incident led to the firing of general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch following a follow-up investigation from Major League Baseball confirming Fiers accounting in January of 2020.
Views on the Astros Scandal on World Series Games 2017
"We were all disappointed, we were all shocked," said Eric Huysman an Astro's Fan with Los Angeles Times. Huysman added that he remembered hearing a banging of the trash can at a game every once in a while yet he did not know what was going on. Huysman is another host of a daily podcast entitled "Locked on Astros"
"I don't like, just forgive them," said Barnes during the pre-game press conference, adding that the incident that occurred was unfortunate and affected a World Series game. Barnes noted that he does not think of the incident all the time, underscoring that it happened years ago.
When asked whether the baseball fans moving on from the Astros Scandal, Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts says he does not know. Roberts emphasized that the "world" condemns and is hostile against cheating. However, the Dodgers'; manager noted that he expects the game between his team and Astros to be "exponentially crazy.
At present, Los Angeles Times noted that Dodgers' Will Smith gave his team a 6-1 lead in the eighth inning of the Dodgers-Astros MLB 2021 match.
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