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Bassitt calls Astros ‘guinea pig’ for MLB sign-stealing issue originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

The Houston Astros are back in the World Series, and a lot of people don’t know how to feel about it. 

Even though all signs point to the Astros playing a clean version of baseball, fans never will forget their infamous cheating scandal. The Astros illegally used a camera system to steal signs at their home ballpark during the 2017 regular season and postseason, the same season they eventually won the World Series. Houston also used the system for a time in the 2018 regular season as well. 

They have not been caught of any wrongdoing since, and A’s ace Chris Bassitt believes the Astros were far from alone in finding ways to cheat the system. 

“This is not to open up a massive can of worms kind of thing, but like, Houston was not the only team doing stuff,” Bassitt recently said on the “Chris Rose Rotation.” “There was a lot of people doing stuff. It was just … fortunately but unfortunately one team essentially got caught doing it — or was the guinea pig of doing it to clean the whole entire league up.

“But there was a lot going on.”

Bassitt didn’t pitch in the major leagues in 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of 2016. On July 11 2018, he faced the Astros in Houston and allowed three earned runs over five innings pitched. He has made four career starts in Houston and has struggled mightily with an 8.35 ERA. 

The A’s faced the Astros 19 times in 2017. They went 4-6 against them in Oakland and 3-6 in Houston. 

“I think it was a point in the sport where the entire sport knew what was going on, so it was like, ‘Houston’s doing this so we gotta do this to try and keep up with them,’ ” Bassitt said. “Instead of someone stepping up — and I don’t mean a player. MLB or whoever it may be, they knew what was going on. 

“Instead, no one stepped up, everyone let it happen and unfortunately it escalated into something so big that Jomboy and the internet had to basically tattle on all the people. They basically had to shove the proof into MLB’s face before they did anything, which is always the case with MLB.

“The MLB is never ahead of a story. They’re always chasing a story from behind and trying to cover up everything with the steroid and everything — that’s how it’s always been, unfortunately.”

RELATED: What went right, what went wrong, what comes next for A’s

As fans still speculate how the Astros made the World Series this time, Bassitt’s comments are just another dark cloud hanging over baseball right now.

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