Padres' Joe Musgrove on 2017 Astros World Series Ring: 'I Want One That Feels Earned'

Joe Musgrove is heading to the postseason with the San Diego Padres, and the former Houston Astros pitcher is hoping to earn a World Series ring he can take pride in wearing.

"I still don't feel great about wearing that ring around or telling people that I was a World Series champion on that team," he told the Associated Press, referencing the 2017 championship he won with the Astros, a team that was mired in a sign-stealing scandal. "I want one that feels earned and that was a true championship. So that's the goal."

It's not the first time that Musgrove has publicly spoken about those Astros and the title he won with them.

"I felt there was a lot of times in that series that I gave up big homers and a lot of times I got big outs that were needed," he told reporters in 2020. "We did that on our own. We didn't get any help. You've got to make your pitch. You've got to get your outs. So there's a lot of big memories for me, moments with my family and those teammates. But looking at it, it's hard not to say that it's tainted. We didn't follow the rules, and we cheated to an extent."

"Everyone has to come to their own conclusions as to whether it's tainted or not," he added at the time. "If you ask around the league, every one of them would say, 'They didn't earn it.'"

Major League Baseball didn't strip the Astros of that title after finding in its investigation that team staffers in the video room decoded the signals from the opposing team and relayed them to the dugout using a variety of tactics. The players in the dugout would then bang on a trash can in the dugout to tip the upcoming pitch for the hitter.

The Astros were docked first-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts as a result of the MLB investigation and fined $5 million. General manager and president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended without pay for the 2020 season and were fired by the Astros.

As for Musgrove, he and the Padres will begin their playoff run on Friday at 8:07 p.m. ET in New York against the Mets.