The Houston Astros are well aware that seemingly the rest of their big-league counterparts and opposing fans hate them. The Astros, of course, were caught cheating since at least their 2017 World Series season, and the players escaped the scandal without facing any sort of punishment.
The most the Astros had to do was issue some emotionless, pre-written apologies at the open of spring training. They had MLB commissioner Rob Manfred essentially protecting the players from retribution. There wasn’t any real remorse from the Astros players, and, now, we’re at the stage where the Astros are going to use everybody being mad at them for cheating as motivational fuel this season.
At least that’s how Josh Reddick plans to approach things this season. He told the Washington Post on Wednesday that Houston will “shut everybody up” by winning.
“At some point, you have to move on and not give a (expletive). We’re going to go out there and win and shut everybody up.”
Those comments won’t go over well with other players … at all.
Obviously, players and fans would be more prepared to “move on” if the Astros had faced any real punishment. They cheated, were allowed to keep their championship, didn’t get punished and basically apologized for getting caught — not for what they actually did.
That’s why the Astros could challenge the hit-by-pitch record, and that’s why nobody is moving on from this scandal anytime soon.
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