Come June, if the Phillies are racing along in first place in the National League East and playing great baseball, you just might want to thank .... the Houston Astros.
Let me try to explain.
The reverberations from Major League Baseball's burgeoning sign-stealing scandal continue to reverberate, and the ripples are being felt here in Philly.
MLB earlier this week suspended the Astors' GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch for the entire 2020 season for their role in the elaborate scheme to steal opposing team's signs. The team upped the ante a few hours later by firing both executives.
Then Tuesday Alex Cora, the manager of the Boston Red Sox who has been identified as one of the ringleader's in the sign pilfering when he was with the Astros, parted ways with the Bosox.
So how does this affect the Phillies?
The Astros won a World Series championship in 2017, apparently when the sign-stealing was in full force.
But to get there they first had to beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
And who was the manager of that Yankees' team? That would be one Joe Girardi, the new manager of the Phillies.
You can make the argument that losing that series cost Girardi the coveted job of skipper of the Bronx Bombers.
Their loss is our gain.
And you can thank the Astros for it.
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