LeBron James Rips Apart Houston Astros and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred

The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James is the latest to weigh in on the cheating scandal involving the Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.

When they were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, the Astros devised a scheme to steal pitching signals. This scheme involved members of the Astros banging on a trash can, apparently to specify pitches to Houston batters.

The Astros ended up winning the world championship in a back-and-forth series that culminated in a Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred responded by suspending Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch for the entire 2020 season. The league also took away four draft picks from the team and fined them $5 million.

There has been a growing chorus that Manfred was too lenient on the Astros. Plenty of observers feel like the league should vacate the team’s 2017 World Series title, or at the very least, suspend the players who were directly involved in the scandal.

James is coming off helping to lead his NBA All-Star team to victory in the league’s midseason classic on Sunday. The Lakers’ next game will be on Friday in L.A. against the Memphis Grizzlies.