Joe Kelly: 2018 Red Sox wouldn't have 'lost an inning' if we cheated
Another member of the 2018 World Series-champion Boston Red Sox is speaking out against the investigation into their alleged illegal sign-stealing.
Reliever Joe Kelly, who was instrumental during the title run two years ago, doesn't believe Major League Baseball's investigation will find any concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
Kelly believes the team was so good that it would have had an even easier time winning if it was breaking the rules.
"Whenever the investigation is done, I'm interested in seeing what is in the investigation," Kelly said during an appearance with WEEI's Mike Mutnansky on Thursday, according to WEEI's Rob Bradford. "If there is cheating involved with how good our team was, we should have won every single out. We should have not even lost an inning if there was some good cheating involved, which would have been a lot more fun because we would have won in four.
"We would have swept through the playoffs and made it really, really fast and been able to go to Hawaii or go to Mexico and go on vacation a lot sooner than we did."
The Red Sox won 108 games during the 2018 regular season and then stormed through the playoffs, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five contests for the championship.
Manager Alex Cora lost his job in January after he was implicated in the Houston Astros' illegal sign-stealing scheme and allegations of cheating by the Red Sox arose, too.
MLB has concluded its investigation into the Red Sox but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Rob Manfred has delayed releasing his findings and announcing any related punishments.
The delay has led to increased criticism in recent weeks. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who was not with the organization two years ago, called it "frustrating," while 2018 World Series MVP Steve Pearce said the investigation is "a joke to us." Kelly added to that when he slammed MLB's entire process.
"The whole thing is a debacle to me," Kelly said. "Now sitting at this point with no baseball being played and no results on an investigation, I just feel like, was I dreaming? Is there actually an investigation? It's like the Boogeyman series, what's the deal with this thing? From the get-go, I just thought it was laugh-out-loud funny."
Kelly posted a 0.79 ERA for the Red Sox during the 2018 playoffs, including six scoreless innings in the World Series. Following their championship, the 31-year-old signed with the Dodgers as a free agent.