As the start of the MLB regular season nears, for those who enjoy baseball, it can be fun to look back over the offseason and review what happened.

One of the largest stories that dominated the offseason was the Houston Astro’s cheating scandal. It was uncovered by former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers that in the postseason of 2017, the Astros used high quality cameras to relay the opposing pitcher’s pitch call to the batter. The Astros teammates in the dugout would hit a garbage can with a baseball bat to let the batter know what pitch was coming.

“The Astros cheating was a huge letdown for me.Tipping off the pitches via a camera and the noises really irks me”

Said Evan Andrus.

Evan has been playing baseball for 12 years and has never missed a season.

Evan continues,

“I think that either they should lose their World Series rings or not be able to play in the postseason this year.”

Unfortunately, the Astros players are immune from punishment due to an agreement to cooperate between the MLB and MLB Players Association. The scheme was player-driven and some of the players that were more involved issued apologies, but many in the baseball community feel that the apologies weren’t heartfelt and sincere, rather that the apologies were done to generate sympathy with the press.

Many large blockbuster signings and trades happened over the past few months and it’ll be interesting to see which deals succeed and which deals flop. Among those deals include the Los Angeles Angels signing the MVP candidate Anthony Rendon, the New York Yankees signing the runner-up for the A.L. Cy Young Award, Gerrit Cole, or a massive three team trade that sent former MVP Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Evan Andrus said that he thinks the biggest deals of the offseason were the Yankees signing Gerrit Cole or the three team trade between the LA Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, and the Minnesota Twins.

One of the biggest things to discuss at the start of any sports season is the predictions for award winners and the championship team. Evan Andrus says that he would like to see the Milwaukee Brewers in the postseason and World Series, but realistically thinks it will be the Yankees and Dodgers. Many professional baseball analysts predict that teams such as the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels, or New York Mets could be in high contention for playoff spots.

It’s a long season, and in 162 games, there’s plenty of room for teams to get hot or cool down. Many things can happen, and it’ll be interesting to see how the season plays out.