"What people don't realize is Jose Altuve stole an MVP from Aaron Judge" - When Cody Bellinger was furious over Astros sign-stealing controversy

During the 2017 World Series, Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros took down Cody Bellinger and the Los Angeles Dodgers to win it all. It was a great back-and-forth series, but Houston was able to fend off L.A., winning the series 4-3.

However, it later came out that Houston cheated during that year. They used electronic means to steal opposing catcher's signs in real time, relaying it to their batters.

This infuriated the baseball community, including Bellinger. He felt that he lost out on a World Series title. He was not impressed with the Astros' apology after the investigation pointed the finger at them for getting an unfair advantage.

"I thought the apologies were whatever. I thought Jim Crane's was weak, I thought Manfred's punishment was weak, giving them immunity. I mean, these guys were cheating for three years," said Bellinger.

Bellinger was also upset that some players received awards that should have gone to someone else. Jose Altuve was awarded the 2017 MVP, and Bellinger believes that should have gone to Aaron Judge.

"I think what people don't realize is Aluve stole an MVP from Judge in '17. Everyone knows they stole the ring from us," said Bellinger.

The 2017 season could have been Judge's first MVP award, but he was just beaten out. Judge could have joined Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout as most MVPs by an active player, but that has now become an afterthought.

Cody Bellinger reveals teams knew what the Houston Astros were doing

Former Los Angeles Dodgers Slugger - Cody Bellinger (Photo via IMAGN)

While it was a shock for fans when MLB revealed their investigation into the Houston Astros cheating, it was not for much of the league. Many players had their suspicions over the years.

"We all knew what they were doing. Teams complained to them, to the MLB [saying] what they were doing. They only started criticizing them when it went public. So, that was another part they messed up at" said Cody Bellinger.

Teams complained to the league well before an investigation was ever put in place. It took the controversy being made public to put pressure on the league to do something.

Much of the baseball community, players included, was not satisfied with how the league handled this. They made multiple mistakes along the way, and the punishment afterward was what many believed was just a slap on the wrist.