Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles Dodgers legend and current commentator for the Los Angeles franchise, reopened an old wound that seemed to be closed. Last Friday, during the first game between Dave Roberts’ team and the Houston Astros at Chavez Ravine, the broadcaster hinted that the visitors might be repeating the cheating that led them to the 2017 World Series title.
“I don’t want to open up an old wound. But in a way, they’re swinging at these pitches like they know what’s coming,” Hershiser said in the middle of the Astros’ offensive festival, on a day in which they scored 18 runs against five Dodgers pitchers, who allowed 20 hits and 11 extra-base hits, including home runs by Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, Victor Caratini and Jose Altuve twice.
“I don’t want to open an old wound. But in a way, they’re swinging at these breaks like they know what’s coming”
Although it was not a direct accusation, the words of Hershiser -World Series champion and Cy Young Award winner with the Dodgers in 1988- awakened the ghosts in Los Angeles, where there is a marked resentment for the famous sign-stealing scandal of the Astros during the 2017 campaign, when they defeated the Angels in the fight for the MLB title.
The worst part is that Hershiser’s statement was not well founded, in the first place because it is very difficult for a team to put into practice a cheating system acting as a visitor, and secondly because the current use of PitchCom technology almost completely limits sign stealing
Ohtani responds to Hershiser… on the field
Less than 24 hours after the Astros’ massacre and Orel Hershiser’s words, Japan’s Shohei Ohtani set about debunking the Dodgers legend’s conspiracy theory. The right-hander, on his 31st birthday, took to the mound for the fourth time this season and showcased his entire arsenal to control the rampant Astros
Although Isaac Paredes opened the game with a very weak single to left field, the Japanese pitcher then forced Cam Smith to hit into a double play and retired the dangerous Altuve with a grounder to the infield. In the second inning, he was even more ruthless, striking out Christian Walker, Victor Caratini and Yainer Diaz, who had eight hits, nine RBIs and five extra-base hits the day before
Most of that offensive spending by the Astros came against the deliveries of Ben Casparius and Noah Davis, two of the Dodgers’ most erratic arms in 2025. Casparius, for example, had an ERA of 7.13 in his five starts prior to last Friday’s clash, while Davis’ ERA was 5.79 in his first four appearances of the campaign before facing Houston
These numbers were in Orel Hershiser’s hands, but to draw attention and cause controversy, he ventured to insinuate, without any proof, that the Astros could be cheating again. To express his opinion, the commentator ignored the information about the bad streak that the Dodgers’ pitchers were going through, which would have been very illustrative of what was happening on the field at that time
With his work, Ohtani silenced the rumors unleashed by Hershiser with his insinuations and made clear an old baseball axiom: when there is pitching there is no hitting… nor sign stealing that is worth it.
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