Mike Fiers had a difficult decision to make. The Oakland A’s starter had been pummelled for nine runs on nine hits, including five homers, while recording only three outs on September 9. Fiers knew exactly what happened – it was not that he simply was unable to execute, it was due to a system the Astros had in place.
And so, that offseason, Fiers spilled the beans, blowing the cover off of AstroGate. There were wide reaching ramifications of that decision – three managers were fired, and Astros GM Jeff Luhnow was also axed. The Astros were vilified although none of the players received any punishment at all.