Rizzo on 2016: We were clean ‘without a doubt’

The World Series-winning Astros of 2017? Busted. The champion Red Sox of 2018? Manager Alex Cora already has been fired.

Even newly hired Mets manager Carlos Beltran, a ringleader in the Astros’ 2017 electronic sign-stealing fiasco, is out of a job before managing a game as the fallout over one of the biggest cheating scandals in baseball history continued into Thursday.

Care to go back a little farther in history, perhaps to 2016?

Not that anybody has accused the 2016 Cubs of the kind of high-tech violations that resulted in historic penalties.

But, for the record: We’re clean, they say. “I think it’s 100 percent safe to say that, without a doubt,” said first baseman Anthony Rizzo, whose Cubs won three of four road games during their seven-game World Series victory against the Indians in 2016. “That’s for sure, on the record.”

Cubs manager David Ross, a catcher on the team in 2016, said that the Cubs also saw no indication that the Indians tried to steal signs during the series.

“It is disappointing,” Ross said of the revelations. “You’ve got to applaud Major League Baseball for doing their due diligence and upholding the integrity of the game. It’s super important for our fans, for our players, for our coaches. I’m glad they did their homework and made some of the decisions they made.”

Just because the Cubs didn’t detect any wrongdoing by the Indians doesn’t mean they haven’t suspected other teams at times.

One Cubs insider said earlier this offseason that the team believed a playoff opponent in recent years tried to signal catcher signs to hitters from the dugout.

And Rizzo said Thursday that he believes teams have done it to the Cubs at times.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I don’t know to that [Astros’] extent.”

He and teammate Daniel Descalso have no problem with traditional on-field attempts at picking up signs, but both say electronic attempts are unacceptable.

“MLB’s done a good job the last few years to have guys in the clubhouse and all around monitoring it,” Rizzo said. “There’s times when you do hear some stuff, and there’s times where teams will decoy, too, to make you think you’re hearing stuff. It’s a cat-andmouse game. Some of the stuff is crazy and some of the stuff is part of the game.”