Los Angeles Dodgers fans are known for being vocal and harshly critical of rivals, especially when they recall past grievances against their team. They showed their anger toward a Minnesota Twins batter facing Shohei Ohtani during a recent game.
The Dodgers’ recent home victory featured a peculiar moment when fans were heard chanting “cheater, cheater” at the Twins’ Carlos Correa while he faced Ohtani, who pitched just three innings.
The game against the Twins was a relief for the Dodgers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Solid pitching ensured Correa and other Twins players left the game without a single hit.
Why were fans calling Correa a cheater?
It’s worth noting that Carlos Correa was part of the 2017 Houston Astros, who faced the Dodgers in the World Series that year. That postseason was marred by the Astros’ use of cameras to steal signs, a scandal that came to light in 2019 through a report by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich in The Athletic.
Regarding the sign-stealing scandal, Carlos Correa stated in 2020: “We were wrong for everything we did in 2017. It’s not what we stand for. It’s not what we want to portray as an organization, and we were definitely wrong about all that and we feel really sorry. We affected careers, we affected the game in some way, and looking back at it, it was just bad.”
Correa nearly hit a home run
The fans began loudly jeering Correa as soon as he stepped into the batter’s box. Yates did his best against him, but the Twins player hit the ball hard, narrowly missing a home run. Had he connected, it would have been a dramatic moment given the “cheater” chants directed at him.
This season, Correa is batting .263 with seven home runs, 83 hits, 31 RBIs, and 23 walks. After 87 games, he’s surpassed last season’s 86 games, which was cut short by injury.