HOUSTON – Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league has no plans of stripping the 2017 World Series title from the Houston Astros, in an exclusive interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.
This interview comes after the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask MLB to strip the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox of their World Series titles for the sign-stealing scheme.
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In regards to the Red Sox, Manfred said he didn’t know what the outcome will be as investigations are ongoing.
“Well, you know there’s a couple of problems. We haven’t concluded our investigation with the Red Sox, so its a little hard to take the trophy away from somebody who hasn’t yet been found to do something wrong. We don’t know what the outcome of that is going to be,” he said.
In the case of the 2017 title, Manfred said:
“I think the second flaw is, whatever the impact for the sign-stealing was, it could have changed who was in the World Series, absolutely unclear that the Dodgers would have been the World Series Champion,” he said. “I think there’s a long tradition in baseball of not trying to change what happened. I think the answer from our perspective, is to be transparent about what the investigation showed and let our fans make their own decision about what happened.”
When asked about the recent firings and punishment of those involved in the 2017 cheating, Manfred said they were intended to send a message.
“Nobody likes to see that happen but I do think it’s the kind of message that will serve as a deterrent of this behavior going forward," he said.
“In terms of the continuing investigation, we have an open investigation on the Red Sox. What I have said to the owners is, if I have some credible evidence any other team was involved, they will be investigated with the same thoroughness we investigated the Astros," Manfred said.