The latest consequence of Major League Baseball’s investigation into illegal sign-stealing by the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox is a testy political disagreement between city councilors in Boston and Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros and the 2018 edition to the Red Sox. Yet given the league’s investigation into both American League teams’ rule violations in those respective seasons, Los Angeles politicians want a formal redefining of championship results.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles city councilors Gil Cedillo and Paul Koretz filed a resolution calling on MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to reclassify the Dodgers as World Series winners during those seasons.


“Now, therefore be it resolved, that by adoption of this Resolution, the Los Angeles City Council hereby requests that in addition to the penalties already imposed, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball remove the 2017 and 2018 World Series titles from the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox,” reads the resolution, “and hereby requests that the Commissioner of Major League Baseball recall the World Series Commissioner’s Trophies and award them to the Los Angeles Dodgers.”

According to Cedillo, the illegal sign-stealing was the difference in each World Series.

“This is an equity and justice thing,” Cedillo told the Los Angeles Times. “Who was the best team in 2017? Who was the best team in 2018? It was the Dodgers. They got beat by teams that were cheating.”

A day after the Los Angeles councilors presented their resolution (which is set for a Friday vote), a Boston counterpart responded.

Boston city councilor Lydia Edwards was asked about the Los Angeles resolution during an interview on WGBH News’ “Morning Edition.”

“Feel free to come and try to take it,” Edwards joked of the 2018 World Series trophy. “I know it’s cold, I don’t know they are ready for this kind of weather. But at the end of the day I’ll say on behalf of myself and many of, if not all of my colleagues on the Boston City Council, from our cold dead hands.”


She later tweeted the quote:

You can take Boston's World Series title from our cold, dead hands. #bospoli #mapoli https://t.co/qdOjWhPKXe — Lydia Edwards (@LydiaMEdwards) January 16, 2020

The league’s investigation into the Red Sox is yet to conclude, and the team awaits likely punishments regarding the allegations of illegal sign-stealing. The largest ramification of the scandal for Boston so far was the decision made by team leadership and now-former Red Sox manager Alex Cora to mutually part ways on Tuesday.