Supreme Court Hearing Sidetracked by Senator's Rant About the Astros' Cheating Scandal

The Houston Astros are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs as they are down 3-0 to [...]

By Brian Jones

The Houston Astros are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs as they are down 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series. And one person who is loving the Astros' struggles is Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican representing Nebraska. During Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Sasse asked about how he thinks Senate Democrats are attempting to change the rules of the confirmation of President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court by comparing it to the Astros cheating scandal.

"I'd like to talk about the Houston Astros, who are miserable cheaters," Sasse said as he acknowledged John Cornyn, who represents Texas. "I think all baseball fans know that the Astros cheat. They steal signs. They bang on cans. They've done a whole bunch of miserable things, historically... They deserve to be punished probably more than they have been," Sasse then asked his question about the Democrats by saying wouldn't it be unfair for the Astros to ask the umpire to make it easier for them and not the Rays?

"We can't have two sets of rules, right?" Sasse asked. Barrett agreed with Sasse, who then said: "I think some of what we've seen in the questions over the last three days are trying to get an umpire to agree to a different set of rules for different teams."

Back in November, it was reported the Astros were stealing signs during the 2017 regular season and postseason. The team ended up winning the World Series, and former Astros pitcher Mike Firers was one of the sources who reported the cheating to The Athletic.

"I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they're going in there not knowing," Fiers said. "I had to let my team know so that we were prepared when we went to go play them at Minute Maid."

The scandal led to the Astros firing their manager AJ Hinch. The team also fired general manager Jeff Luhnow and both received one-year suspensions, which will soon expire. Alex Cora, who was a bench coach with the Astros at the time, was the manager of the Boston Red Sox and was fired by the team when they heard the news. Carlos Beltran, a former Astros player, was just hired to be the New York Mets manager but was fired shortly after the news broke.

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