Everyone except the Houston Astros. Baseball fans’ cravings were at the start of the MLB Major League Baseball playoffs. The relief was great when baseball baddies, who had been caught cheating in previous seasons, were eliminated by the Tampa Bay Rays in the semifinals Saturday night.
The Florida club allowed Houston to come back from a 3-0 game delay to 3-3, but arranged matters in the crucial seventh game: 4-2. Houston’s comeback was great, but the compliments weren’t forthcoming outside of Texas city limits.
He said goodbye to the “bad guys” of the American sports world with impatience. “The Rays have done baseball a favor,” said MLB Network reporter John Hyman, who has voiced the thoughts of many baseball fans. “The Astros could reach the final again one day, but not this year. Not the year the scandal was exposed. Thank you, Reese“.
The Houston Astros’ sins were not forgotten in a season that was postponed for months due to the coronavirus outbreak and reduced to 60 games (instead of 162).
Last winter, the club was exposed: Houston cheated in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, an MLB investigation revealed after a former player was expelled from the school. How did the plan work? In home matches, the club directed the camera at the opponent’s catcher’s fingers to intercept hand signals, which convey the type of pitch to the bowler. In the catacombs, right behind the bunker, players and staff watched images on a video screen.
Initially, the information was brought into the bunker by a player, a errand boy, later using text messages, smartwatches and trash cans that players collided with clubs to immediately warn the hitter. Only with a fast ball (straight, straight, hard) I stayed silent. At the incoming sway ball, the drums began to beat, even quietly heard on TV for the attentive viewers.
From 2017 through 2019, the Astros won the most matches of any club in MLB. In 2017, the club became the champion. Houston was allowed to retain the title, and MLB coach Rob Manfred ruled, much to the chagrin of baseball fans. According to them, the punishment imposed by the League was very light: coach AJ Hinch and technical director Jeff Luhnow were suspended and subsequently expelled. The club was fined $5 million, but the players involved were released. Some of them cooperated in the MLB investigation.
A public apology from superstars Jose Altove and Carlos Correa came of late, and club owner Jim Crane took a hit by declaring that misleading behavior did not affect the outcome of matches.
If the coronavirus pandemic had defined the winners, the Houston Astros were one of them. At the start of the new season, supporters of rival clubs cleared their throats, painted placards and exemplified knives, but after months of delays, the Astros finally played in empty stands. They were spared the boos, with players tasting boos while preparing for the originally planned season.
Off the field, hatred flowed profusely. Twitter account called “2020 Astros Shame Tour‘He had over 300,000 followers at any given time and he’s knocking every day. During the Tampa Bay series, played on neutral ground in San Diego, a Chicago White Sox fan vented his heart out from his balcony above the field. “Attention, members of the Houston Astros involved in the 2017 and 2018 scandal,” he sounded through the megaphone. “You are all a bunch of cheaters.”
Even while questioning Supreme Court nominee Amy Kumi Barrett, a senator cited Texas practices last week. “I want to talk about the Houston Astros, who everyone knows are terrible cheaters.”
Earlier in the playoffs, after defeating the Minnesota Twins, superstar Carlos Correa threw another pool of oil on the fire. I know a lot of people are angry because they don’t want to see us here. But what do they say now?
Thank goodness the Tampa Bay Rays looked Saturday night. For rookie Randy Arrozarina, he’s good for seven home runs in the playoffs, including a crucial tiebreak match against the Astros. The brilliant Cuban was named best player in the semi-finals. For the first time since 2008, the club on a modest budget is in the World Series, the final of the baseball season starting tomorrow. (Sunday night, the tiebreak was played in another semi-final, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves.) The players and coaches assured that the best was yet to come, but the win over the Astros captured the hearts of neutral viewers.
