NBA star LeBron James did not mince words when sharing his thoughts about the Houston Astros cheating scandal.
The 35-year-old called out MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Twitter over his lackluster response to the Astros’ scandal after the team was accused of using a centerfield camera to help them steal pitching signs during the 2017 championship season.
“Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be f—ing irate! I mean like uncontrollable about what I would/could do!” the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted. “Listen here baseball commissioner listen to your players speaking today about how disgusted, mad, hurt, broken, etc etc about this.”
“Literally the ball is in your court (or should I say field) and you need to fix this for the sake of sports,” James added, before including a lengthy hashtag.
After reports of cheating surfaced in November, many baseball fans expected the Astros would have to relinquish their 2017 title.
But after an investigation, the MLB only stripped Houston of four of their draft picks and gave them a $5 million fine. The league also suspended general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch for the 2020 season, while Astros players themselves were offered immunity for their testimony during the investigation.
Stars from around the league have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks about the punishment.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who lost to the Astros in Game 7 of the 2017 American League Championship Series, said he was “sick to his stomach” after hearing about the team’s cheating and believes Houston doesn’t deserve to keep the championship.
“I just don’t think it holds any value with me,” Judge said during a press conference on Tuesday. “You cheated and you didn’t earn it. It wasn’t earned [through] the way of playing the game right and fighting to the end.”
“The biggest thing about competition is laying it all out on the line, and whoever’s the better player, better person, comes out on top,” he continued. “And to know that another team had an advantage — nothing that you can really guard against — I just don’t feel like that’s earned.”
Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost in Game 7 of the World Series to the Astros, criticized the Houston team for what he called their “weak” apologies this month during spring training.
“I thought the apologies were whatever,” Bellinger told reporters.
“I thought [Astros owner] Jim Crane’s was weak. I thought Manfred’s punishment was weak, giving [the players] immunity. Those guys were cheating for three years. I think what people don’t realize is Altuve stole an MVP from Judge in ’17. Everyone knows they stole the ring from us. But it’s over.”
“I lost respect for those guys,” he added. “I would say everyone in The Show, in the big leagues, lost respect for those guys.”
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