Yankees GM Brian Cashman: Astros sign-stealing scandal 'illegal and horrific'

The New York Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2009. They haven't appeared in the championship round since that season either, but it's a drought that pales in comparison to nearly half of MLB's 30 teams.

The 13-year hiatus for the 27-time World Series champions continues to create anxiety and impatience amongst fans of the Bronx Bombers, but general manager Brian Cashman is quick to point out that the club has been on the doorstep of playing for the title over the past decade-plus. Since winning it at all over the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009, the Yankees have been to the playoffs nine times and advanced to the American League Championship Series (ALCS) four times.

One of those occasions where New York fell one round short of the World Series was, of course, in 2017 against the Houston Astros. Reports detailing Houston's infamous "sign-stealing" scandal came out in the winter of 2019 and Cashman is still talking about the issue.

"The only thing that stopped (us) was something that was so illegal and horrific," Cashman said, per Andy McCullough of The Athletic. "So I get offended when I start hearing we haven't been to the World Series since '09. Because I’m like, 'Well, I think we actually did it the right way.' Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off."

Following a 91-71 regular season in 2017, the Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins in the AL Wild Card game and then Cleveland in the ALDS, setting up a showdown in the ALCS against the Astros. Houston came back from a 3-2 series deficit to move on to the World Series, "all while utilizing an illegal camera to steal signs and relay them to batters in real-time, commissioner Rob Manfred's office later found and revealed in a 2020 report," McCullough wrote.

"People are like 'Oh, we haven't been to a World Series... and I'm like, 'Yeah, I don't think that's as true a statement as it could be,'" Cashman said. "We had a World Series team. And either you get it done or you don't."

The Astros ended up winning the 2017 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers and again knocked off the Yankees in the 2019 ALCS, before falling to the Washington Nationals. New York fell in the ALDS in 2018, the ALCS in 2019 and the ALDS again in 2020, before bowing out to the division-rival Boston Red Sox in the 2021 AL Wild Card game.