Justin Turner: 'Hard to Feel' Astros Earned 2017 World Series Title
The Los Angeles Dodgers had their fan festival today. Several members of the organization attended, and naturally were peppered with questions about the Astros' cheating scandal and the impact it may have had on the Dodgers' 2017 World Series run.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he didn't think Houston has shown enough remorse for their actions. Slugger Justin Turner expressed a similar sentiment when he said he didn't know why Dallas Keuchel was the one apologizing (he wasn't batting very often, after all), and said it's "hard to feel like" the Astros deserved their championship rings.
Justin Turner on the Astros World Series championship: “It’s hard to feel like they earned it.”
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) January 25, 2020
Hard to argue with him there. The Astros were certainly a talented baseball team, but they also definitely cheated. How much of a role the cheating had in winning the championship can never be determined in a meaningful, quantifiable way, but it did have an impact. The Dodgers will forever feel like they were robbed, and it's hard not to sympathize with them.
Turner said he feels horribly for the fans. “I said at the time after game 7 it was a World Series we’ll never get over. This just re-hashes all those emotions.”
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) January 25, 2020
Turner said legacies were hurt and bad narratives were reinforced. Also cited clubhouse staff who lost out on potential life changing money in World Series winning playoff shares.
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) January 25, 2020
An ugly scene for the game of baseball.