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Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Did Not Mix Signals in the 2017 World Series vs Houston

The worst part of the Astros cheating scandal is that it feels like picking at old wounds. For Dodgers fans, those old wounds are the 2017 World Series. In a sit down with Tom Verducci, Clayton Kershaw admitted some things about his shortcomings in midst of the Astros’ cheating.

Be warned: there will be plenty of heartache for Dodgers fans in this interview. The thoughts of what might have been are innevitable, and it will likely stir up even more hatred of the Astros.

With that being said, many were quick to judge Kershaw’s 2017 World Series efforts, myself included. And initially, why not? He gave up 6 runs in a pivotal game 5 and blew a 4-run lead and then a 3-run lead. Fast forward a few years and of course, we now know that the Astros were cheating and using illegal systems to steal signs.

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But as it turns out, Kershaw was so sure that the sanctity of the game was intact, that he did not expect Houston to be cheating. And this proved to be a fatal mistake for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

If you don’t change your signs up every few pitches with a guy on second base, it’s on you. I just don’t want to have multiple signs with a guy on first base, you know? That slows the game down. Slows the rhythm down. And I didn’t do that in Houston. I used one sign. And I should have known. They were using multiple signs all the time.

Kershaw is a notorious enforcer of the pace of play in baseball. Once he gets settled into his groove, he likes to keep the game moving along. So why not use one sign with no one on second base to steal it from you? It made sense at the time, and it still makes sense now.

Players don’t expect teams to cheat and take sign-stealing to the level the Astros did, so Kershaw using one sign was more than acceptable. He does, however, look back and realize there are things he could have changed.

Well, I’m not tipping my pitches, I give one sign, and they shouldn’t be able to know what’s coming because they’re not getting it from the catcher and they’re not getting it from me.’ They shouldn’t know. And that’s probably just me being naive as well about how they can use technology.

It’s tough to look back and think that if Kershaw had gone to multiple-sign pitch calling, maybe Gurriel doesn’t hit that home run. Maybe he doesn’t walk Springer and Bregman to set the stage for Altiuve’s bomb off of Maeda. Maybe the Dodgers win the World Series with ease. Maybe.

All that is left to do now is look ahead, and hope for a better 2020 season.

NEXT: Clayton Kershaw is Proud the People are Upset Over Cheating in Baseball

13 Comments

  1. Kershaw should not have assumed that any other team is as honest as he is, because few, if any, are. I will keep calling out Manfred to take away the cheaters’ title and hope others in power do the same.

  2. Come on people, facts are facts. I re-watched Game 5 of the 2017 World Series several times, at no point during that game did the Astros cheat. There were no proof, no indications whatsoever showing the Astros hitters were receiving stolen signs, NONE, NADA. Kershaw got whacked and he knew it. The Astros hitters were flat out much superior against Dodgers pitchers. They won Game 5 fair and square, it’s as simple as that. I’m so sick and tired of reading all these Dodgers losers continue to use this fake sign stealing excuse to cover up their own incompetence. Enough is enough. Dodgers choked the 2017 World Series.

    1. What a stupid argument you watched the game online you’re going to act like you know what was going on behind the scenes you’re a joke get lost. By the way you don’t have to read these so stop crying and stop trying to cover up your own teams cheating

    2. The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self-awareness.
      -Annie Savoy

    3. Have you considered approaching “facts” from another perspective? Note Correa’s firm denials of coordinated subterfuge in recent interviews. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Correa is the one who wove an ornate narrative concerning Altuve’s feelings of shame regarding a tattoo featuring his daughter’s name. Do you think that Altuve’s wife likes the idea of her man disliking a tattoo of (I’m assuming things here, so bear with me) their daughter’s name? Is this why Correa said it instead of Altuve? These are the kinds of lies that fools make up when everyone knows what they are trying to hide. This is what a team that ripped off its name from a gun manufacturer and its stadium from an unrealized Brooklyn Dodgers design does. This is what a player whose earnings nearly doubled in 2017 as a result of a bonus says in order to keep his reward. As a 17-year-old prospect, Correa said, “”I want to be a leader. I want to be the face of the franchise.” This is a man who said in the spring of 2017, “I’ve got to focus on playing good baseball so I can have good arbitration years.”

    4. You need to check YOUR facts Fact check. I have all the games also and you can clearly hear banging followed by an offspeed pitch. Bangs happen right after pitcher takes sign(or no bang for fastball). I only checked a few batters and there is banging. It can sometimes be hard to hear(need to use headphones for best results) if the TV camera is the center field shot. A good example to hear louder bang from dugout is game 3, 2nd inning, 3-1 count on Gattis. Camera pans to Astros dugout when Gurriel does his racist gesture, followed by 4 bangs then offspeed pitch from Darvish. Check it out for yourself.

    5. How can you possibly know that there was not some sort of well-planned, outside the rules, signaling system in place by simply “watching” or re-watching a re-play of the recorded game? How would that would have been captured or evident in video? Listen to the Astros lame-ass apologies now, today. What the did gave them a very unfair advantage. They cheated and they skated. Astros* -2017 Champion*

  3. OK. Caveat: Am an Astros fan.
    Of the things often overlooked?
    Hitters guess on pitches. Frequently.
    The idea that this system meant a player was going to get a hit automatically– defies logic.

    Next? The Astros could use this system only at their home stadium. In 2017, the Astros had a Home record 5 games worse than on the road. Has been said by some unnamed Astro hitters that the attempt to signal a pitch was more distracting than helpful.

    These things stated? I’m not condoning cheating. Played most major sports either in high school and/or college. Truth be told? I was coached to find ‘edges’. Skirt rules. How to do things that were borderline– for advantages.

    It was effing stupid of the players involved to do what they did.

    Particularly after they’d been warned previously. IMO? The Astros got caught. They’ve been penalized exactly what MLB laid out after they’d been warned. That the field manager and GM would be suspended for a year. The Astros owner went beyond that penalty and fired both on-the-spot. The Astros were also docked 4 draft picks and fined $5M. The players can’t be punished– as it’s impossible to tell who– was involved– to what degree. Some– play for other teams now. How would that work?

    This doesn’t change the crime.

    IMHO? This doesn’t change the history. It can’t be rewritten. The Dodgers didn’t win. And vacating the championship wouldn’t mean the Dodgers would be crowned.

    Honestly. How do you think I feel? As a nearly lifelong Astros fan, I’m embarrassed. I’m ashamed for the stupidity of my team. This year and ongoing– this fanbase– and for the rest of their careers the players– have to live with the ‘Scarlet C’.

    The Dodgers and their fans will only have to get over it.
    We’ll have to live with it. The championship matters not one whit.

    jw1

  4. A crook steals the money, admits to the authorities he did it, He tells them how he did it. He tells them that he still has the money, and the authorities let him keep it because he spoke up years later? And now he is taunting the authorities that he got away with it. Who is the corrupt one in this case?

  5. What has never been explained is how the catcher or HP umpire didn’t hear constant bangs? Or the camera man near their dugout? It could not have been used very often. Also, were the stolen signs 100% correct? There has to be major questions how effective it really was.I also question that only the 2 WS champs did it? Hard to believe that. Defies logic. MLB has a problem with honesty.

    1. From what I observed from rewatching WS games was that there was other banging happening at different times. To me it seamed like the banging wasn’t all the time but in key situations when there was also alot of cheering and other noise so it blended in. The key to the banging was weather or not they banged immediatly after the pitcher took the sign. So alot of the banging just looked like random enthusiasm but if the batter heard banging right after the pitcher took the sign it was an offspeed pitch, no banging then fastball. I actually could predict what pitch was coming by just watching the TV broadcast on a few key at bats. I didn’t check every at bat. Also, no quarantee you will get a hit if you know what pitch is coming but is is a huge advantage for a game that can be decided by 1 pitch.

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