1. The New York Rangers critique a player safety call.

2017 is the Year of Fine.
Estimated Total Fine: $100,000*
In professional sports, it can sometimes mean the difference between staying on as head coach and sitting on the couch all year, hoping for a call that may or may not come. In order to gain an advantage, the New York Yankees focused on the phone in their dugout.

The New York Rangers criticize the player safety call. ©Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
No, they weren’t going to the Yankees dugout to order DMZ pizza. The coaches passed along their opponentssigns from the bullpen to the dugout, the coaches passed along the signs of their opponents to one another. It appears that the Yankees got off cheap, paying a punishment of just $100,000 for being caught cheating, especially in light of the fact that the Houston Astros were fined $5 million for a similar scandal a few years later.