“I’m still pissed off about it” - Former Yankees 3B Todd Frazier is still not over the Astros’ 2017 cheating scandal
Todd Frazier was a midseason acquisition in 2017 for the New York Yankees. Fans may remember that that was the year they made it to Game 7 of the ALCS but fell to the Houston Astros. That's also the year their championship was marred by the cheating scandal, something Frazier hasn't forgotten about.
It's impossible to say what would have happened had the Astros played entirely clean that year, but the Yankees and other teams feel that they were cheated out of a chance to win a championship, and Frazier shares that sentiment.
On the Foul Territory podcast, the former Chicago White Sox star said about that scandal:
"It s**ks. I'm still pissed off about it, if you want the truth. Everybody's like, 'Forget about it, don't worry about it. Let's just kick it under the rug.' Time moves on, but you don't forget... That was my only time for me to get a ring. It s**ks, man. I'll be honest. I'm still pissed off about the whole situation. They got off scot-free, if you want the truth."
He continued, saying that he didn't believe the commissioner had appropriately punished the players who were involved:
"I think it's something where the commissioner should have really thought about what to do to penalize these guys. It would've been great to play the Dodgers, that East meets West kind of feel.
"There's all types of ways of finding signs, that's from second base. The natural ways of doing it. For them to do that, it still stings a little bit."
Frazier says it would have been fun to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Their fans are another group who felt robbed of a chance to win the whole thing because of the Astros' cheating.
Todd Frazier never got that ring
Being a midseason acquisition by a contending team usually means you have a shot at winning a championship. Before coming to the Bronx, Todd Frazier hadn't really had that.
He feels like it was his one shot and that the cheating tainted his opportunity, and he really never got one again. He would go on to play for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers before retiring, and he never really got another good shot at winning the World Series.