James joins MLB stars in ripping Astros as cheats

LeBron James on Tuesday joined a growing chorus of Major League Baseball stars ripping the Houston Astros as cheaters over their sign-stealing scheme in the 2017 World Series championship season.

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout and several members of the Los Angeles Dodgers－who lost the World Series to Houston three years ago－h(huán)ave spoken out about the high-tech cheating scheme exposed in an MLB investigation last month.

"Listen I know I don't play baseball but I am in Sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be F****** irate!" James tweeted. "I mean like uncontrollable about what I would/could do!"

James also called for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to listen to the criticism coming from stars across the league, many impacted by the cheating scheme.

"Listen here baseball commissioner listen to your players speaking today about how disgusted, mad, hurt, broken, etc etc about this," James tweeted. "Literally the ball is in your court (or should I say field) and you need to fix this for the sake of Sports!"

James closed with the hashtag: "Just My Thoughts Coming From A Sports Junkie Regardless My Own Sport I Play."

The findings of an MLB probe have led to the firings of three managers linked to the 2017 Astros, although no players have faced punishment and Manfred said the team would not be stripped of the 2017 crown.

"I feel like every single guy over there needs a beating," Atlanta's Nick Markakis said of the Astros. "Just sick to my stomach to find out," Judge said on Tuesday.

The scandal, involving cameras in the outfield, a monitor near the dugout, and beating on trash cans to signal to batters what type of pitch was coming, has been compared to the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" match-fixing scandal and the 1990s steroids era in giving baseball another black eye.

Dodgers star Cody Bellinger said he felt the Astros "stole" the World Series crown from the Dodgers, that Jose Altuve "stole "the American League Most Valuable Player Award from Judge in 2017 and owner Jim Crane's apology was "weak".

AFP