Gerrit Cole's awkward answer about foreign substances confirmed what we already knew, baseball full of cheaters.
I had my fun with the Houston Astros just like everyone else, but they are obviously not alone. Baseball clearly is and has always been full of cheaters. Gerrit Cole’s spin rate on his answer, when asked whether he used spider tack is more proof of that.
He even said sticky practices have been handed down from one generation to the next. Which I guess shouldn’t be surprising in a game where we’ve seen sign stealing, corked bats and steroids. So, my question is...shouldn’t people be more upset about the rampant use of foreign substances by pitchers? You’re not even allowed to use those in pro wrestling.
No one seems to be keeping the same energy around this, that they have for keeping Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame. I understand one could argue it’s not the same, however, I’m not sure the numbers back that up.
At least with steroids, which pitchers used too, by the way, it led to some excitement. Right now, MLB is in the midst of the most historically inept-hitting season in history. And with spin on balls increasing at a rapid rate, bats are being missed completely, which has almost certainly contributed to nearly all the action being taken out of the sport.
I get that pitchers are treated like delicate geniuses...why else is it acceptable for them to hurl a baseball at a hitter who admires a home run? But one would think this scandal would be met with the same animosity reserved for the Astros.
I suppose in this case we can’t point to one World Series winning team, though the defending champion Dodgers, coincidentally or not, have seen the largest spin rate increase.
Overall, I can be left with only one takeaway...while there may be no crying in baseball, there sure as hell is a lot of cheating.