Viral take comparing Dodgers' financial issues to Astros' cheating scandal is fraudulent

We're still learning the full scope of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter's financial shell game, but for now, organization's leadership is assuring everyone that the club is not up for sale and that nothing material changes despite the messy situation. What the future truly holds remains to be seen.

The drama has, of course, brought the haters out of the woodwork. Everyone is now ready to take their shot and try to knock the two-time defending World Series champs down a notch or three.

One narrative that is gaining steam on social media is the asinine assertion that what was going on with Walter and the Dodgers is somehow worse than the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Some have even called for Los Angeles's titles during Walter's ownership to be vacated.

Those who are purporting this nonsense either don't understand the impact of what the Astros did and how it's very different than what's going on with the Dodgers, or are purposely misrepresenting the situation.

Jeff Passan went on the Max Mannis Podcast and shed some additional light on the situation. There were a couple of key points, the first of which is that the improprieties that are being investigated have nothing to do with what happens between the foul lines.

On top of that, at this current moment, while it's alleged that the Dodgers and other Dodgers-connected entities had some of this questionable cash flow through them, how much of the club's actual funding came from this supposed double-dealing remains to be seen.

Comparing the Dodgers-Mark Walter situation to the Astros cheating scandal is ludicrous

For those who need a refresher, the Astros used a camera positioned out in center field to steal catchers' signs during their home games, and then relayed those signs to the batter at the plate via buzzers.

The idea that they did this only to win "a few more home games" is asinine and underplays the severity of the situation. Stealing signs, either by picking up a pitcher's ticks (otherwise known as tipping pitches) or via a runner at second base cracking the code, is gamesmanship that has been part of the game since its inception.

It's also obvious to the opponent what's going on, and they have the opportunity to combat it by switching up signs and the pitcher doing a better job of hiding his intentions. What a rival team won't be aware of, and therefore unable to combat, is secret electronic surveillance, and that's exactly what the Astros did.

The Astros won the World Series in 2017, vanquishing the Dodgers to receive their rings. While the Dodgers pushed them to the brink, and Game 7 took place in LA, it's hard to claim that Houston didn't have an unfair advantage during the three contests that took place in Houston during the series.

Folks will want to point to the roster-building impact the extra, and potentially ill-gotten, financial might has on the Dodgers and their chances to win. However, simply spending big doesn't guarantee that the players will be good investments. The Dodgers have plenty of examples of big-money free-agent signings gone awry. And if money were all that mattered, the New York Mets would be good, and they very much are not.

The reason the Dodgers win is that they've built an impressive baseball ecosystem at every level. The money flowing from Walter's insurance companies has little impact on that.

What has an impact on wins and losses is the illegal use of technology to steal signs. That's what the Astros did, and it's clearly cheating and on a completely different level than Walter's supposed funny money scheme. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply being disingenuous.

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