EXCLUSIVE: Steve Garvey knows how Yankees-Dodgers The World Series means something to America.

He played in the final three games between the two franchises, helping the Dodgers win the final game. meeting in 1981 and playing on the losing side against New York in 1977 and 1978. Before that, he was a ball boy for the Brooklyn Dodgers and watched with wide eyes as Brooklyn beat the Yankees for the first time in its history to win the title.

And like many other baseball players, Garvey knows how close America came to seeing a matchup between the two teams in 2017. The Yankees lost one fewer game, losing to the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the ALCS. Then he watched his old team lose to Houston in Game 7 of the World Series.

Two years later, Garvey was shocked by the news that Houston had cheated that year. The Astros were exposed for a complex illegal sign-stealing operation, leading to sanctions from MLB and suspensions and possible firings of manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.

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“We were all saddened by what happened. There was evidence of it, and it got to the point where there was always a question when they played seven games with the Astros if this happened at that time,” Garvey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. interview. “And the fans haven’t forgotten. So when they see Houston, it brings out the most in them.”

Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Garvey, Steve Howe and Steve Yeager celebrate winning the World Series against the New York Yankees at the end of game six at Yankee Stadium. (Jayne Kamin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

As a World Series champion, 10-time All-Star and one-time MVP, Garvey knows how difficult hitting is. He believes the Astros’ use of electronic devices to decipher signs and transmit them to players from the dugout in real time was an undeniable advantage that played into the Astros’ dominance that year.

“If you can give me what the pitch is, I’ll probably raise my average at least 40 to 50 points. If you know what’s coming, a contact hitter like me, and you know it’s coming. A contact hitter like me, that’s a significant advantage,” Garvey said.

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When asked if he thought the Astros would have been able to defeat the Yankees and Dodgers in the playoffs that year without cheating, the former All-Star first baseman equated advantage to taking steroids.

“I’m quite sure,” Garvey said when asked if he thought the Astros could have won without cheating. “It’s like I equate it to taking steroids. The people who took steroids and the very big players who were accused of it and so on were pretty good before that.

“And it’s difficult to measure what percentage they were better. But it will have some value with the better players who are able not only physically, but also mentally to think the game and determine when they receive a slight advantage if it must be transformed into a significant advantage.”

The debate over whether the Astros won the playoffs that year resurfaced after Yankees GM Brian Cashman rejected the idea that his team had to wait 15 years between its last World Series appearance and this one.

Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros reacts after flying out against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of Game 2 of the American Baseball League Championship Series, October 16, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cashman cited the fact that the Yankees faced the Astros at the height of their cheating scandal. New York lost to the Astros in the ALCS in 2017, then lost for the second time in three years in 2019, just months before the scandal came to light.

“I hate this 15 year period because it completely forgets and downplays the fact that another organization cheated us when we were at the end. If you knew what was going on, then I don’t think they would progress in that time period,” Cashman said during an appearance on Chris Russo’s “High Heat” on MLB Network on Tuesday.

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“I think we would have progressed,” Cashman said. “So I hate this 15-year story because I don’t think it’s an accurate reflection of history. But regardless, we’re proud to be where we are now.”

The scandal’s eventual whistleblower, former pitcher Mike Fiers, revealed the team’s elaborate sign-stealing operation in a November 2019 interview with The Athletic. It was later discovered through a league investigation that Houston players and staff were using the video replay room to decode the opposing team’s signs, then banging on trash cans to transmit the decoded signs to batters at home plate , alerting them of the upcoming throw.

Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, left, taps out Carlos Correa (1) as they celebrate Correa’s home run during the second inning against the Oakland Athletics on April 8, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Once the operation was made public, the sanctions, suspensions and dismissals began. Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who spent 2017 with the Astros, was revealed to be the mastermind behind the operation, and he was even suspended and fired by Boston before being rehired in 2021.

Under Corra’s leadership, the Red Sox also beat the Yankees and Dodgers in the postseason to win the World Series in 2018.

Astros players, particularly star player Jose Altuve, have been called cheaters by baseball fans across the country, especially Yankees and Dodger fans. Since then, the team has been booed relentlessly over the scandal. However, Houston showed it could beat the Yankees and win a championship after the scandal, sweeping the Yankees in the 2022 ALCS before beating the Phillies in the World Series that year.

Yet for many of Houston’s star players from that 2017 team, including Altuve and shortstop Carlos Correa, they never came close to matching their statistical performance by cheating.

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The Astros took a significant step back in 2024, getting swept in the wild-card round by the Detroit Tigers and failing to reach the ALCS for the first time since 2016.

Thus, the Yankees and Dodgers are finally able to renew their historic rivalry in the World Series.

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