"what could be dramatic about baseball, plurk user lightfellows? I thought the postseason was over?"

baseball drama is always way more interesting than rp drama

pulls up a carpet square with popcorn

except it turns out that the 2019 AL pennant winners + 2017 world series champions

were cheating

y e p

the astros were allegedly using a camera in their centerfield to steal signs, then banging on a trashcan in the dugout to let batters know when an offspeed pitch was coming

I don't even baseball so this is all new and fascinating to me

we go now live to the reaction from astros fans

passes popcorn around

oh the astros lmao

"is sign stealing really cheating?"

honestly you have to respect the trashcan communication

"what is cheating? can cheating exist in a capitalist society?"

I got the years/titles mixed up and was like THE FRICKEN METS??!?!?!

oh but the mets are involved

how............

because the current mets manager is a legendary player who retired after winning the world series, finally, with the 2017 astros

and he was apparently one of the ringleaders and claims, ofc, that stealing signs isn't cheating

now, because baseball is stupid and esoteric, in fact, SOME sign stealing is legal

bitterends: ngl i did too and went NOT THE CUBS

lmao oh no

you are allowed, as a runner on the bases, to watch the pitcher and try to guess the signs

if I thought it was the cubs I'd be a lot more upset

the astros are an enemy of The Cub so I can be like

you are NOT allowed to install a camera in the field to specifically try to steal signs and then pour over it with special scouts and then communicate to the team via an amateur production of STOMP!

yeah, i'm a cubs fan so i was like DDDDD: while frantically googling, imagine my pleasant surprise,

man fuck the astros

cubs are national league btw

now, this might seem like an unfair distinction

then communicate to the team via an amateur production of STOMP!

the garbage can banging is an excellent touch

this is extremely quality sports drama

but it makes sense because both teams can try to steal signs by like, watching the catcher, but only the astros can do it by a camera they have in their own field

probably not generally an accepted interpretation of "home field advantage"

no abusive behavior no steroids just good old-fashioned elaborate schemes

it gets worse when you consider the specifics of the 2017 world series, which was a back and forth 7 game affair, but… and here comes the cubs part

oh no

current cubs pitcher yu darvish was traded to the dodgers mid-season from the rangers, a team in the astros division

nodding frantically

in the 2017 world series, the astros absolutely annihilated him, which led to some speculation that he was tipping pitches and, because the astros were in his previous division, they were wise to him somehow

in fact, they were just, you know, cheating

omg baseball drama

Omg

I feel even better about the nationals right now

oh thank god

reddit detectives are looking at the home/away splits of the astros and their strikeout rates, etc, but the thing is in a postseason baseball series, even if you cheat just a little on high-leverage at bats it's easy to have a disproportionate effect on the outcome

this has all had the really unfortunate side effect of getting me, a lifelong giants fan and dedicated anti-dodgers partisan, to feel bad for the hated los angeles dodgers

who absolutely got screwed here

also getting screwed: the new york yankees

black is white, up is down, evil is good, fuck the astros

wait wait wait the yankees are on the side of good now??

we go now to my dodgers fan friend for his thoughts:

I think it's like when you feel sorry for the villain bc their dad was mean to them

WOW THE CUBS ARE NOT EVIL

win the world series ONCE,,,

hoW DARE YOU

the cubs are WHOLESOME FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

anyway this is the last bit of a spectacular heel turn for the houston astros, who also Looked Real Bad for 1) signing a known Domestic Abuser and then 2) having front office executives heckle female reporters who were critical of signing a known domestic abuser and then 3) refusing to apologize

(eventually they did apologize but it was a BAD LOOK)

bitterends: this is anti-chicago retortic and i won't stand for it

the cubs are bad hth, all teams are bad

womanyellingacat.jpg

wrigleyville may be a nightmare on game days but I submit to you it is in fact drunk men who are bad

I'M SORRY YOU GOT THROWN UP ON THE RED LINE JEREMY SURF ROCK BAND FROM IOWA BUT YOU LEAVE MY DAD'S TEAM OUT OF THIS

LMAO

ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) on Twitter

anyway yu darvish is good and his response to this has been good

but his twitter is mostly jp

ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) on Twitter

ah bless him

his avatar is a painting of himself......

a fan made it and tweeted it to him!

he isn't wrong, japanese snacks are the best

anyway the nationals, knowing the astros reputation for sign stealing, apparently had an anti-astros protocol

coincidentally (?) the astros lost all their home games in the 2019 world series

lmao I thought it was fanart

I like how the responses are just people listing their fav snacks and one thirsty bitch

aw the nationals are good

you love to hear about their antics

there was someone who was so determined to say NONE OF IT WAS TRUE because the Astros left Mike Fiers off the World Series roster in 2017.

Mike Fiers, for context, is the pitcher who first came forward telling everyone about this.

He did this TWO YEARS LATER.

Their logic was that Fiers was MAD so he made this up.

khgs LEAVE THE MARLINS ALONE, PUNCHING DOWN IS MEAN

anyway next time… hockey drama?

as long as theres no more football drama... i cant take it anymore

football handegg or football soccer

there has been some good soccer drama

handegg.

fucking hinkle

being a steelers fan fuckin bites this year

ah I see it's a reference to thursday night brawl

nfl drama is usually feels bad unless it's about the patriots

I feel the plotlines are "concussions are bad, league denies"

and "player involved in domestic assault allegations"

oh and "referees exist"

(or do they? )

don't forget "shut up chris"

patriots drama runs the gamut from "physics prove we didn't deflate this ball", "tom brady wears uggs/kisses child on mouth", "it turns out aaron hernandez is a murderer"

i think referees are a conspiracy personally

Sports drama can just sometimes be straight up wild. I've been following this shit with the Astros and I'm not even a baseball person.

That said, what is hilarious is that since this news came out, the obnoxious Astros fan on my FB timeline has since become very quiet on baseball...

I feel bad for Astros fans, actually, since they didn't know their team was cheating and they did nothing wrong

it must suck for them.

I would feel slightly more bad, but some of the vitriol he was directing at the other teams was uncalled for.

Definitely a big loss for their actual fans, though.

God, Thursday night was just fucking peak Browns tho

Also my uncle didn't beat me in fantasy this week but he did manage his second tie of the year

beautiful

I love ties

Importantly this means I am still leading the league.

baseball drama: