The Houston Astros sign stealing scandal will always be entwined with the Oakland A’s. Mike Fiers had dropped the bombshell, making him Public Enemy No. 1 in Houston. The Astros were vilified by the baseball universe, fines were levied against the organization, draft picks were forfeited, and people were fired.
That scandal has not come to an end. Even though it has been nearly two years since punishment was handed down, the Astros are still hated by the baseball world in general. But they have an unlikely ally in A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt.
Houston Astros have ally in Chris Bassitt
During an interview with Chris Rose, Bassitt said that the Astros were not the only team stealing signs or having signals. He went on to say that sign stealing was a league wide issue, with Major League Baseball essentially scapegoating the Astros and making them the guinea pigs to clean up the game as a whole.
He also addressed why no one spoke up, aside from Fiers. Since everyone was stealing signs, and the league was completely aware of what was happening, they wanted to keep everything quiet. The “investigations” into the Yankees and Red Sox conveniently disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Bassitt is hardly the only player to echo those sentiments. Other players, including the likes of Joey Votto and Josh Donaldson, have said that plenty of other teams were stealing signs as well. But it is far easier to throw the book at one team than to punish the entire league.
That is not going to change how the Astros are regarded. They are still the villains of the game, the team that the rest of the baseball universe loves to hate. But as Bassitt, and others, have pointed out, they were hardly the only team doing such things.
The Houston Astros have an unlikely ally in Chris Bassitt. He has publically stated that the Astros were hardly the only team stealing signs at the time.