Astros: No apology necessary from any of the players!

There are many differences of opinion on the issue of an apology from the players. I have a lot of thoughts on this particular issue of Astros-Gate.

Social media is both good and bad during times like these. There a lot of contradictory opinions about whether or not the 2017 Astros owe the baseball fandom an apology. Some fans are adamant that it’s necessary and others are of the mindset that the best apology is to play their best ball in 2020.

For me, as a fan of the entire game – offense and defense – I am a member of the latter group, and though I’ve not remained completely unscathed by these revelations, I also have some very different thoughts on the entire subject.

At the outset, let me just say that I’m so very tired of the hate on social media. As a forever fan of the Astros, I’ll admit it takes a tough skin and a lot of resilience and is often hard to sift through all of the hate, but there are also some very educational tidbits to be had that make the sifting worthwhile.

For instance, I was reminded that 2017 was Alex Bregman‘s first full year in MLB. He joined the squad mid-season in 2016. As a rookie, how was he going to change anything happening in the clubhouse? As a rookie, what exactly was he supposed to do to stop a situation that was being led by a veteran player and one of his coaches?

Some rumors suggest some players didn’t want signs. At this point, however, we don’t know who participated in what. With good reason, the investigation named this as one of the many reasons that the MLB couldn’t justify punishing individual players.

If you have any knowledge of baseball, you know how hard it is to succeed in the game. In all of this, I would like to remind everyone that even if a hitter knows what’s coming, he still has to see the ball and hit the ball. How many curve balls did Lance McCullers throw to the Yankees in 2017, and how many did they hit even though they knew it was coming?

From my perspective, an apology from the team only causes some to admit they participated, even if they didn’t. An apology causes some to be shielded from more of the blame that they could very well deserve because a team apology evenly distributes the blame to all of them. From a standpoint of optics, I say the team should just keep quiet and move on. But hey, if individual players want to speak out, that’s their prerogative.

So far, at least two players who were with the Astros in 2017 have spoken out, Dallas Keuchel and Joe Musgrove. Keuchel, of course apologized, but he was a veteran and was known to be a pretty vocal voice in that clubhouse. But as a relative newbie, just a year out from his debut, Musgrove didn’t have any power to change or stop the situation.

Analysts of the game have repeatedly pointed out that the team’s offensive stats from the 2017 season prove that the squad was better on the road than they were at home.

2017 Regular Season Splits:
Home                                                                        Away
48-33                             Record                             53-28
4.9                             Runs/Game                           6.2
.279                               Average                             .284
115                             Home Runs                          123
.340                             On-Base %                          .351
.472                              Slugging %                         .483

Never mind that, the defense was stellar, especially in the postseason. And while you cannot win if you don’t produce runs, defense is just as important in keeping the opponents from scoring runs and something that seems to have been overlooked in all of this talk of cheating.

To satisfy my own curiosity, I went back and looked at the results of the 2017 postseason. Check it out.

2017 World Series

If you’re an Astros fan, you probably don’t need to be reminded, but with the home field advantage belonging to the Dodgers, Games 1 and 2 were played in LA; Games 3, 4, and 5 were at MMP; and Games 6 and 7 were back to LA.

The Dodgers took Game 1 (1-3), while the Astros took Game 2 (7-6). In these two games, LA actually outscored Houston by one (8-9).

Back in Houston, the Astros took Game 3 (3-5), while the Dodgers were dominant in Game 4 (6-2). Again, LA actually outscored Houston by two runs in these two matches (9-7).

Game 5 of the series will never be forgotten, at least not by most Houston fans. The 10-inning walk-off win went back and forth in a match that was altogether emotional and exciting, leaving Houston on top by one (12-13). Even after this epic match, the Dodgers were still on top in scoring in this series while it was in HTown (21-20).

As a testament to how crazy baseball truly is, Houston was on top by one game in the series as it headed back to LA for the final showdowns. In Game 6 (1-3), the Dodgers hit back and tied up the series forcing Game 7 (1-5) that saw the Astros on top, resulting in a first-ever franchise World Series title.

Overall, the runs in the 2017 World Series were evenly dispersed (34-34). Putting it all into perspective, at home, the Astros were actually outscored by one (21-20), and away, the Astros outscored the Dodgers by one (14-13), making this series evenly matched for both teams. It’s not like the banging on trash cans gave the Astros an advantage, even at home.

Many people want to say the 2017 title is tainted. To my way of thinking, especially after analyzing the numbers, no matter how you slice it, the World Series of 2017 will go down in history as one of the most epic summer classics ever played!

Through all of the complaints about the scandal involving our offense, and after doing this analysis, it simply amazes me how little credit is being given to the 2017 Astros defense.

History

Like I mentioned, even with all of its negative posts, social media can lead to some meaningful education. In my trolling, I stumbled on some history of sign stealing that further drives home my lack of need for an apology from the Astros.

1. One Pitch Away, The Players’ Stories of the 1986 LCS and World Series, by Mike Stowell, published in 1995, quotes Mike Scott who pitched with the NY Mets from 1979 to 1982:

“There’s all kinds of things that go on.  When I was with the Mets, we had a TV monitor in the bullpen. It was just zeroing in from center field.  You could see every sign the catcher gave.  We could stand out there, and if we knew it was a breaking ball, boom, we could give the hitter a sign. “Some people want to put a big morals thing on it. It’s just part of the game. It’s not brain surgery. It’s gamesmanship — people trying to win. It’s a game. And you’re trying to survive.”

2. After decades of denials, in 2002, an article by David K. Li in the New York Post flushed out the Giants of 1951 who finally admitted to sign-stealing. The article describes the scheme and makes it clear that this is just another facet of the game, one that fans are seemingly not educated about.

3. A 2017 article in the Washington Post had some interesting timing and an interesting slant on the entire issue, seemingly having helped to bury the scandal that year involving both the Red Sox and the Yankees.

4. And on January 23, 2020, SI released this article by Tom Verducci depicting even more interesting facts about the history of sign stealing and how much it is ingrained in baseball.

So for all of the holier-than-thou fans and players who have jumped on the bandwagon making it seem like the Astros started this and were the only ones doing it, just please stop!!! Get off your high horses and stop pretending like you’re so shocked and surprised.

Moving on in 2020

The MOST important aspect of the Manfred Report keeps getting lost in the fray, both by the Twitter-verse and analysts on the MLB Network. Namely, the 2019 Astros were exonerated of all cheating by the Commissioner’s thorough investigation.

And in case you need to be reminded just how special the Astros of 2019 were, here are just a few of the awesome highlights from the 2019 team that history should NEVER forget:

• The 2019 Astros were the #1 team in all of the MLB in 2019.
• The 2019 Astros saw the most All-Stars of any other MLB team.
• The Astros 2019 rotation carried the number one and number two contenders for the AL Cy Young award in Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.
• The Astros lineup of 2019 had the runner-up for the AL MVP in Alex Bregman.
• The Astros lineup of 2019 showcased the ROY in Yordan Alvarez.
• The Astros defense was named the #1 defense in all of MLB in 2019.

Coming now full circle, this brings me back to my original thoughts that prompted this entire article — NO APOLOGY NECESSARY boys. Get back to what you do best — play ball. Cheating obviously is not your forte anyway, and even the numbers of 2017 prove you played better without the trash can.