In game six of the 2019 ALCS, New York Yankees‘ flame thrower Aroldis Chapman gave up a series-ending home run to Houston Astros’ mighty midget Jose Altuve. While Altuve clutched his jersey on his way to home plate, yelling an inauspicious comment that seemed to indicate a buzzer, Chapman wasn’t willing to blame anyone but himself for the home run.
“Yeah, I’ve seen that video,” Chapman said Thursday morning, through an interpreter, at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “I think a lot of people have seen that video. It’s a popular video right now. And yeah, if you look at his actions, they look a little suspicious. But at the end of the day, I just don’t know” whether Altuve illegally knew what pitch was coming. Â …
“I assume responsibility for how the events developed,” Chapman said. “I gave up the homer and we lost, and that’s the bottom line. I was the pitcher on the mound. I was the guy facing Altuve.”
Several Yankees players have expressed their opinions this week, including starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, who featured on the Astros’ last season. Cole neglected to confirm their cheating scheme and stated that he was unaware of their wrongdoings. While Cole provided vague statements regarding the troublesome of-season for Houston, Chapman seemed convinced that they had an advantage during the 2017 campaign.
Chapman also said, “I think it was the extra edge that allowed them to move on,” in 2017.
Moving forward, baseball will revert back to its sacred form, and the Yankees will push forward in 2020 with one of the best teams in the league. Void of any known cheating, the Yanks will persevere and survive this tumultuous time. While we may never discover if Gerrit Cole knew about the cheating scheme, he is still one of the best pitchers in baseball and offers the Yankees a chance at a legitimate world series appearance in 2020.