No Dissertation Necessary

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

I'm not going to give you a rundown on why baseball did what they did.

I'm not going to tell you that baseball did the right thing over the past two days.

Cheating -- doing anything to gain an edge -- has existed forever. Gaylord Perry's doctoring of baseballs was so charming that he's in the Hall of Fame.

But I'll tell you this: it's illegal to steal signs using technology.

And that's the problem.

That's why AJ Hinch and Alex Cora are out of managing jobs today, and why Jeff Luhnow is not a general manager today.

Let me hit a few thoughts in here, and I'll keep it simple:

- The Astros (and the Red Sox) will not be giving up their championships. Unlike the NCAA, pro teams don't take banners down. The court of public opinion will recognize things for what they are: tainted.

- The Dodgers aren't getting any titles and, seriously, would you want it? To that end...

- The Yankees aren't getting anything either. They lost the ALCS in '17 and '19 to Houston and the ALDS in '18 to Boston. Sure, it stinks to lose like that, but I don't want to win like that either. No fan should.

So, we're here.

My concern remains how much deeper this goes. Thus I see no point in celebrating because your team -- my team -- could just as easily be guilty.

Then there's the question of new Mets manager Carlos Beltran. What will become of him? Will the groundswell be enough to get him fired before he ever manages a game? Honestly, I don't know. I keep thinking "no" because players (which he was in 2017) have been immune so far. That being said, he's not a player anymore and, thus, isn't protected by the union.

One internet genius thought it was brilliant of baseball to break this story on the morning of the National Championship in college football. Except the story dominated Monday and has now rolled into Tuesday.

Much as you might expect me to revel in this Boston downfall, I find myself feeling sad for baseball tonight.

And sports.

These are black eyes that just aren't needed.

We're still talking about the Black Sox 101 years later and the stigma of that has never gone away.

Hopefully this is where it ends.

But I'm dubious.