Astros goes to World Series and renews scam debate debate: NPR

Ryan Pressly of the Houston Astros celebrates with Martin Maldonado after the final out in the ninth inning, defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0 on Friday and advanced to the World Series.

Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

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Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

Ryan Pressly of the Houston Astros celebrates with Martin Maldonado after the final out in the ninth inning, defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0 on Friday and advanced to the World Series.

Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

It’s a great day to be a Houston Astros fan – if you can handle a little controversy.

The Astroes are due for the World Series later this month, after winning the Boston Red Sox on Friday. This will mark the Astros’ third appearance in the World Series in 5 years. They won the entire shebang in 2017 when they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that victory has since been put into controversy.

In 2019, a study found that Astros had been dealing with character theft in 2017 and part of 2018. The scheme famously involved hitting a trash can with a bat to communicate upcoming seats.

After the news broke, the Astros owners fired team general manager Jeff Luhnow as well as general manager AJ Hinch. The league also hit the franchise with a $ 5 million fine, and the team was forced to lose draft picks in the following two seasons.

But despite the conclusion that the majority of position players in 2017 participated in the character-stealing debacle, no players were suspended, much to the chagrin of some in the sports world. It’s been a dark cloud over the franchise in recent years, and the consequences the team faced – or, if you ask some, the lack of it – remains a hot topic of debate for sports fans.

The Astros seem to put the scandal behind them

But it’s clear the Astros are determined to move on, as Astros owner Jim Crane said in an interview with New York Times after beating the Red Sox 5-0 last Friday.

“It gets brought up every day so you have to see it,” Crane told the outlet. “I think it’s behind us. We proved it tonight and we’re proud of the guys. And they’s good players, and great players win championships.”

The players seem to agree.

“We’ve made mistakes before, but you can not go back,” said Lance McCullers, one of a handful of 2017 players still on the team after the scandal, according to ESPN. “All we can do is keep moving forward, play good baseball, stay within our clubhouse and our fan base and our amazing city, and just do our thing.”

However, some on Twitter are not so convinced that the past is really past.

Astros should not even be a franchise

– Harris Volheim (@harrisvolheim) October 23, 2021

“Astros should not even be a franchise,” wrote a Twitter user in response to MLB’s tweet that the Astros were on their way to the World Series.

“Atro’s winner is bad for baseball,” wrote another. A user divided a gif that reads, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

But Astro fans are behind their team. Som a fan wrote on Twitter, “The haters are burning @astros, so keep hating.”