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MLB doesn't plan to strip Astros, Red Sox of WS titles

Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Los Angeles Dodgers fans hoping for Major League Baseball to strip the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox of their recent World Series titles - and retroactively award them to the runner-up Dodgers - are likely to wind up disappointed.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday that the league does not intend to see the 2017 and 2018 trophies change hands despite a proposal from L.A. City Council.

"Whatever the impact of the sign-stealing was, it could have changed who was in the World Series. (It's) absolutely unclear that the Dodgers would have been the World Series champion," Manfred told Maria Bartiromo of FOXBusiness. "I think there's a long tradition in baseball of not trying to change what happened. I think the answer from our perspective is to be transparent about what the investigation showed and let our fans make their own decision about what happened."

An MLB investigation recently found that the Astros participated in an elaborate sign-stealing scheme during their 2017 World Series run. The scheme was led by bench coach Alex Cora and veteran slugger Carlos Beltran.

Cora then managed the Red Sox en route to their championship win in 2018. MLB's investigation into whether or not Boston engaged in similar tactics remains ongoing.

"We haven't concluded our investigation with the Red Sox, so it's a little hard to take the trophy away from somebody who hasn't yet been found to do something wrong," Mandred said. "We don't know what the outcome of that's going to be."

Barring a change of heart, the Astros and Red Sox appear poised to keep their recent titles, which would leave the Dodgers without a championship since 1988.

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