FALCON POINTS
Admit it, Astros haters: You need these villains in your life
Oct 1, 2020, 1:34 pm
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The Houston sports scene in general remains a disappointment. The Rockets are playing golf and looking for a new coach. The Texans? Pretty much a national joke. But there is good news. The XFL will be back in 2020, and the team everyone outside of Houston hates is still alive in the playoffs.
After slogging along in the shortened season with a losing record, the Astros swept the Twins and will play either Oakland or the White Sox, teams they are certainly capable of beating to reach the ALCS for a fourth straight year.
The best part? The whiny national media, MLB and fans of other teams get to vent about 2017 all over again.
If MLB were smart (I know, that phrase is ridiculous) they would embrace the hatred. Make it a redemption tour. Don't we all love a redemption story? Become more like the WWE. The Astros went from the lovable good guys to heels. Now they try to turn back and win it "the right way."
No one will admit it, but the Astros being alive is the best thing that could happen to baseball. The sport is struggling, and now going up against football, it needs all the attention it can get.
Enter the Astros, who will enable the keyboard warriors and talking heads of the world to spew hyperbole and keep the cheating story alive. The faux outrage will get clicks and ratings. Imagine if the Astros were to make it all the way to the Series again - against the Dodgers, no less. It would dominate the sports headlines, even in an NFL world.
If they lose, the angry mob will have nothing to complain about. They will get a day of "ha ha, the cheaters lost," then will have to retreat back to their basements. Baseball will once again take a back seat to the NFL.
So if you are one of those "I hate the cheaters" people, you should join Astros fan and root for them to keep winning. It will give your meaningless life some purpose. You can extend your pointless outrage for a couple weeks.
From a baseball perspective, the Astros aren't last year's group. The pitching is piecemeal, they have no real ace, and the hitting has not been what it should be. They beat a team that has lost 18 straight playoff games. But they have enough to beat Chicago or Oakland in a five game series. Tampa or New York would be a stretch, but they do have playoff pedigree, and if they can get enough pitching, anything is possible.
Admit it, haters: You need the Astros, Would there be a Star Wars without the empire? Did you not celebrate when Darth Vader turned from the dark side? Rejoice. You have a villain.
The villain baseball needs.
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Jeremy Peña is putting together the best season of his career, and it’s time to start asking some serious questions about what comes next.
After a strong rookie campaign and a magical playoff run in 2022, Peña has reemerged as one of the best shortstops in baseball. His numbers are now right in line with, and in some cases better than, Bobby Witt Jr., the player many consider the gold standard at the position. But Peña's resurgence isn't the only headline, he’s now officially signed with Scott Boras, baseball’s most powerful agent, signaling that a major payday could be on the horizon.
That decision raises real questions about Peña’s future in Houston. With just two years left on his deal, is he heading toward the same path as other homegrown stars who have ultimately walked in free agency? Or will the Astros finally reverse course and invest long-term in one of their own? The team’s payroll philosophy, built around letting expensive veterans leave while developing new talent, has worked for years. But Peña’s rise is testing just how far that system can stretch.
As his star continues to rise, the pressure is mounting. Will Houston commit to keeping him, or let another one slip away?
Be sure to watch the video below as ESPN Houston's Paul Gallant weighs in!
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