World Series: Love them or hate them, you've got to respect the Astros
The Astros celebrate their 4-1 World Series win against the Phillies in Game 6 on Saturday in Houston. Credit: AP/Tony Gutierrez
HOUSTON
The Astros and Yankees both held court with the media this past week to talk about their process.
One did it on its confetti-strewn field, with a sold-out ballpark roaring in approval as the Commissioner’s Trophy was passed among them.
The other was holed up in a Bronx basement, again explaining a premature playoff exit and the reasoning behind another failure.
Talk all you want about the randomness of October, lucky bounces and the importance of a healthy roster. But for all those factors supposedly out of a team’s control — and we’re looking at you, too, Mets — here’s the undeniable truth about baseball’s model franchise right now.
The Astros have made four World Series trips in the past six seasons, the first since the dynasty Yankees (five from 1998-2003) to do so, and won their second title during that span with Saturday night’s 4-1 victory over the Phillies in Game 6 at Minute Maid Park.
Houston accomplished that feat despite an overhaul of the front office and manager, hiring general manager James Click and manager Dusty Baker after details of the 2017 cheating scandal surfaced two years later. They earned this ring on the strength of outfoxing the Dodgers on the trade for Yordan Alvarez — his moonshot three-run homer decided Game 6 — and having rookie phenom Jeremy Pena, the replacement for Carlos Correa after he left in free agency, take MVP honors for the Fall Classic (and the ALCS, too).
This isn’t about money, but you can bet the Astros rake in tons of cash from the unconditional love supplied by their ever-forgiving fan base. Houston was seventh (33,197) in average home attendance this season, a couple of thousand behind the Mets, and its $179 million payroll for 2022 ranked 10th.
Just as Hal Steinbrenner once said (and no doubt privately still believes), he shouldn’t need to spend more than $200 million to win a World Series. Turns out, Steinbrenner is correct, because that’s exactly what Click and Baker delivered for Astros owner Jim Crane for nearly $100 million less than what Steinbrenner had to shell out for his 99-win season and getting swept by Houston.
This year, what the Astros earned was priceless. It's their first title without an asterisk, and a chance to devalue those “Cheater” chants, if only in their own minds.
“That will probably never go away,” Crane said Saturday night with the music thumping and confetti swirling around him. “But I think it just proves how good this team is and how good it’s been for a long time. I think the consistency we’ve shown, it’s the work we’ve put in. You’re not always going to get every decision right. But we try to get every one you make, make the best decision you can.”
Obviously, they’ve had a few bad ones. Choosing to let Carlos Beltran and Alex Cora orchestrate the 2017 sign-stealing operation, with illicit use of the replay room and the audacity of banging trash cans to signal the incoming pitch, was an all-timer. The penalty for that offense was underwhelming, to say the least, as the active players managed to skate thanks to the union running interference.
The fact that five key members of this championship group are holdovers from 2017 can be polarizing, skewed mostly by geography. Houstonians never wavered in their support and see this title as vindication for the five players harassed in every other MLB city: Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel and Lance McCullers Jr. Others might see their continued presence as the remaining link to a sordid past. Either way, they played an integral part in winning this World Series, just as they did in 2017.
“It was a hell of a squad then and it’s a hell of a squad now,” said reliever Ryne Stanek, who grew up in the Rays system, was non-tendered by the Marlins and had a 1.15 ERA in 59 appearances for the Astros this season “Regardless of anything else, this is a very good baseball team and organization.”
Stanek is just another example of that good decision-making process, along with Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, the Dominican duo who signed as international free agents in 2015 — Valdez at the age of 21. Both are stalwarts of the rotation now, with Valdez the unofficial runner-up for World Series MVP and Javier pitching the first six innings of the combined no-hitter in Game 4 (it was the second time he’d been part of one this season, with the first combo no-no coming against the Yankees on June 25 in the Bronx).
“What happened before, it doesn't ever pass over completely,” Baker said. “But we have turned the page and hopefully we'll continue this run because that's the thing, when I talk to James Click, and especially when I talk to Jim [Crane], he expects to win. He doesn't want to go from first to worst in a two- or three-year period. He wants this feeling and I like this feeling a lot.”
Baker said he never liked the Celtics or Yankees as a kid because “they won too much.” But now he craves that dominance with the Astros — the franchise that has supplanted the Yankees in that respect — and Baker got the chance because of the sign-stealing fallout. He’s another decision that paid off, and it should continue to do so when the Astros presumably renew his contract.
Only the universally loved Baker could blunt the Houston hate, as much as that was possible. And while nobody has to like the Astros, they do have to be respected, now more than ever.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
