Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to take to Texas for an early-season series against the Houston Astros starting Tuesday evening.

The obvious backdrop here is Houston’s sign-stealing scandal that resulted in harsh discipline earlier this year. This represents the teams’ first regular-season matchup since the punishments were handed down. It’s also a rematch of the 2017 World Series that saw Houston defeat the Dodgers in seven games.

Even though he was not a member of either organization at the time, first-year Astros manager Dusty Baker opened up Tuesday about the rivalry between the two clubs.

I, for one, am pretty sure that the tension from Los Angeles stems from the Astros allegedly cheating during the 2017 World Series.

Sure Houston won the title, but there’s some out there who believe that the Dodgers should be awarded the World Series championship because of widespread cheating on the Astros’ part. Baker is opening up a whole new can of worms here.

Both the Dodgers and Astros are seen as top-end favorites to make it to the World Series during a truncated 2020 MLB season. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they actually met up?

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