In a damning story published by The Athletic this week, it's been alleged that the Houston Astros used a video surveillance system in 2017 to steal signs from opposing catchers and relay that information to hitters at the plate via audio cues.  Multiple people spoke to reporters for that story, including former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers.

Obviously, it's a huge advantage for hitters to know what type of pitch to expect next.  Pitchers typically need to keep hitters off-balance to sustain success.

2017 is the year that the Astros also won the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 7 games, it was a very close series.

It hasn't taken long for fans to uncover footage that appears to corroborate the accusations made in the Athletic article.  On Twitter, user Jomboy found this footage of an at-bat mentioned in the article, and users found what they believe to be footage of the Astros relaying signs in the 2017 World Series against Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Dodgers fans, who had been waiting since 1988 for another shot at a World Series title, were entitled to a fair contest.

This petition calls on Major League Baseball to commit publicly to stripping the Houston Astros of their World Series title should it find that the allegations from the Athletic article are true.

If cheating led to a 2017 advantage, the punishment MUST be severe, otherwise the deterrent will not be sufficient to offset the rewards of a world title.  The integrity of MLB is very much at stake here, and to restore fan faith in Major League Baseball it MUST commit to stripping the Houston Astros of their title should it be found they cheated in 2017 in the manner alleged by former player Mike Fiers.

#StripTheAstros2017