Glass Houses

Last night I was, of course, watching the final game of the ALCS. I was very happy that the Astros were able to battle back from a 0-3 deficit, but I wasn’t particularly surprised that their efforts fell short as they dealt with injuries and everything else that was a part of this hellscape we call 2020.

I was legitimately happy for the Rays to move on to the World Series and was about to post a congratulatory tweet when I saw the Rays AAA affiliate Durham Bulls put out a tweet calling the Astros trash. Here I am seeing a ton of Astros fans sincerely congratulating the Rays, and this Rays affiliate seems to be more excited to “trash” the Astros than they are about the fact that their team just advanced to the World Series. Nothing like being a sore winner.

Here’s the deal. I do not now nor have I ever condoned what the Astros did. They stole signs in a manner that was against the rules and it shouldn’t have happened. But it did. At the time, I wrote a post telling the players involved to grow up. Well, guess what? They did. They confessed. They apologized. And they owned it. And, in retrospect, that was the problem. Other teams were cheating in similar fashion around the same time. But they chose to obfuscate and cover up their investigations with the winking consent of Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. The Yankees have fought to keep sealed a letter regarding their own scandal because it “might harm their reputation.” No confessions. No apologies. And no owning it for them. Just sweeping it under the rug.

I was not proud of what the Astros did, but I am proud of the way the players handled it. They did not deflect blame. They did not hide behind Manfred’s skirts. They owned it. Carlos Correa went from a boy to a man in the blink of an eye and I could not be prouder of him. He became the team leader and franchise spokesman. Bregman ramped up his efforts to help the community during the current crisis. They refuse to let this scandal define them as people or as players.

The fans of other teams view the collective Astros brand as the boogeyman. They do not see the individual players for what they are. And these same people have zero self-awareness. Hey, Rays fans, since the Astros are so evil, please send us Charlie Morton back. He was one of those 2017 Cheating ‘Stros. You must really hate him. And while you’re at it, you can send us back your third base coach (Rodney Linares) and one of your bullpen pitchers (Ryan Thompson) because they were in the Astros system in 2017 and you wouldn’t want to risk being tainted by their Astros stank. And I know you just acquired Brett Phillips, but you do know that he is besties with Lance McCullers and Carlos Correa, right? And worst of all, you have a Special Assistant to the GM (Bobby Heck) that was, gasp, the Scouting Director for the Astros and was instrumental in signing George Springer and Carlos Correa. How do you know that he isn’t trying to corrupt your organization? And it’s not just the Rays. You will be hard-pressed to find an MLB organization with zero connection to this team. The Astros tentacles are everywhere.

This is the reality. Someone on your favorite team may very well be trying to get an edge by stealing signs or by doctoring a baseball or by taking performance-enhancing drugs. Or they may be gambling on baseball. Or they may be going out of their way to intentionally hurt other players with hard slides or beanballs. Or they may be domestic abusers. Or they may be stone-cold cowards who like to date underage girls (I’m looking at you A’s). Or your front office may be trying to steal proprietary information. Or your coaches or managers may be the ones who persuaded players to cheat. Or you may have players on your team who are just lousy human beings. Your team is only as pure and blameless as the worst person in your organization. Go ahead and throw stones, but don’t be surprised when the glass gets broken in your own house.

Oh, and one final word. Since the Astros (booga booga booga) are so horrible and evil, I am assuming that there is not one single fan of another team that will want George Springer in free agency. Who could possibly want “trash” like that? With that said, I am sincerely happy for the Rays and would like to congratulate them on moving on to the World Series.