The Houston Astros have reportedly said in court documents that they sincerely apologize for the sign-stealing scandal the team used, most notably during their World Series run in 2017.
The admission is seen in recent court filings as season ticket-holders take the team to court contending that their tickets were devalued by the sign-stealing controversy that marred the accomplishments of the Stros’ 2017-2018 season.
According to the Athletic, the team has now acknowledged the scandal.
“The ‘sign-stealing’ controversy has been a source of great disappointment to Astros fans as well as to the Astros organization, the team’s lawyers said in the filings. “On several occasions, members of the Astros organization — including individual players, and its Owner, Jim Crane — have expressed their sincere apologies and remorse for the events described in the report by the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.”
This is the first official comment about the controversy since Astros Owner Jim Crane said that the team does not think that the scandal impacted the game of baseball.
“Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that,” Crane said at a press conference in February.
Still, Crane did say that the team is “apologizing for breaking the rules.”
"So then what are you guys apologizing for?"
"We're apologizing because we broke the rules."Astros owner Jim Crane and @MarlyRiveraESPN went back and forth during the team's news conference. pic.twitter.com/2hdR1sFGcd
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 13, 2020
Thus far, the latest court document is the longest statement the team has made about the scandal.
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