The Nationals Beat the Astros. They Still Feel Overshadowed.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The clocks in the Washington Nationals’ spring training clubhouse do more than tell time. They are branded with an image of the Commissioner’s Trophy, reminding all who pass through that the Nationals are the reigning World Series champions.

The Houston Astros, who train on the other side of the complex, are not — but their sign-stealing scandal has consumed the sport.

The neighbors are a bit annoyed.

“It’s disappointing that becomes the talk of the off-season,” said Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals pitcher who beat Houston twice in the World Series last fall. “Heck, we went out there and beat ’em.

“But I think in a way that’s probably a good thing, because it kind of upsets a lot of us here in the clubhouse, because we did something really special and that gets overshadowed because some guys were cheating. That’s something they’ve got to live with.”

The Nationals were the first team ever to win four road games in a World Series. Now the feat seems even more astonishing because it happened at Minute Maid Park, which the Astros used as a laboratory for subterfuge while winning a title in 2017.

Did Houston cheat last year, too? Officially, the commissioner’s report made no such finding, but the Nationals are not convinced. Catcher Kurt Suzuki said he heard whistling from the Astros’ dugout during the World Series, just as the Yankees claimed in the American League Championship Series. The Nationals changed signs furiously in Houston, with each pitcher tucking a card inside his cap that listed five sets of signals.

“They are a good team, for sure, but we thought something was going on,” said starter Patrick Corbin, who won Game 7 in relief. “We didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was a reason we did multiple signs with no one on and mixed them up as best we could. I think if they were doing stuff in ’17 and ’18, they continued it into ’19. They didn’t have any punishment.”

Now the Astros have been punished — with the loss of draft picks, a $5 million fine, and suspensions for General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch, who were then fired by the owner Jim Crane. But the players avoided discipline altogether, and their apologies on Thursday largely rang hollow to their peers.

Mike Rizzo, the Nationals’ general manager, was especially bothered that Crane would not admit his team had cheated in 2017. Crane acknowledged that the Astros “broke the rules” but refused to use the more emphatic synonym.

“Somebody’s got to say the word over there: cheated,” Rizzo said. “That’s important to me.”

Rizzo clearly noticed the contrast in attention on Thursday, when his pitchers and catchers practiced for the first time as champions. He saw lots of Nationals players but few national reporters — yet the Astros’ side was bustling.

“Opening day 2020, there’s 50 media people here and 47 were at the Houston Astros, who cheated to win a World Series, and there were three of them here with the current, reigning world champions,” Rizzo said. “And that’s not right.”

While the Astros try to rehabilitate their image, the Nationals’ new challenge is to become the first team to repeat as champions since the 2000 Yankees. This is the longest stretch in major league history without a repeat World Series winner, and the Nationals must try without third baseman Anthony Rendon, who left for a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels.

“The way I combat that is we got Stephen Strasburg back,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “I’m talking about getting another edge, and this year, for me, it’s run prevention.”

The top prospect Carter Kieboom, 22, should take over at third base, but it is hard to expect him to match Rendon’s production. To prevent more runs, the Nationals expect to have a better bullpen, with Will Harris arriving from Houston as a free agent and the relievers acquired last summer — Daniel Hudson, Hunter Strickland and Roenis Elias — back for a full season.

The rotation, as usual, is Washington’s biggest strength; Max Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin and Anibal Sanchez combined to go 54-28 with a 3.33 earned run average last year, with clutch performances in October. Strasburg — whose new contract is identical to Rendon’s — emphasized the Nationals’ integrity on Friday in a clear brushback pitch to the Astros.

“A lot of us in here are high-character guys who put in a lot of work, and we want to do it the right way,” he said. “And that’s what makes it more special, knowing that, regardless of if there was any funny business going on, we controlled what we could control. We prepared for it, and we did what was necessary to make it as even a playing field as possible.”

He added: “Someday I’m going to hopefully have some grandkids and sit down and talk to them about the experience of the World Series and not really feel ashamed of it at all.”

When they rewind the hands of their commemorative clocks, then, the Nationals will do it with a clear conscience. To them, their title is clean and the Astros’ is dirty — but they cannot escape the stench wafting over from their spring training neighbors.

“We did it with character and dignity and did it the right way, so we feel good about that,” Rizzo said. “The thing that pains me the most is it puts a black cloud over the sport that I love, and that’s not right.”