Major League Baseball has, for the most part, abdicated from its responsibility to punish the Houston Astros is any meaningful way for their sign-stealing scandal. As our Joe Lucia noted when the initial punishments rolled in, “these punishments, on the surface, look huge. They include fines, suspensions, and loss of draft choices. But when you actually dig into the discipline enforced by MLB, you’ll realize how woefully inadequate the punishments are.”
And so, fans, especially those who feel as though their team was personally shafted by the Astros’ cheating, are left to dole out punishments in their own way. Since no out outside of MLB’s brain trust feels satisfied with the way everything played out (even publicly letting other teams know they’ll get in trouble for retaliating), it’s the people paying the tickets and sitting in the stands who now seem to feel a responsibility to remind Houston at every turn that they are cheaters and everyone knows it.
We’re seeing it play out pretty effectively so far during Spring Training. In his first spring at-bat, Jose Altuve got booed, heckled, and hit by a pitch.
Pre game #Dodgers fan giving it to Altuve but Astros fan has his back. #Astros pic.twitter.com/jwBYMPqk9Q
— David Nuño (@DavidNuno) February 24, 2020
Jose Altuve’s first appearance at the plate this spring. #astros pic.twitter.com/axIfy3G1ch
— David Nuño (@DavidNuno) February 24, 2020
The Astros played their first road game of Spring Training on Sunday and, well, things have not improved.
From the first Astros spring road game
(via @ChipFL23) pic.twitter.com/vvgjoP1gcE
— Very Baseball Moments (@verymlb) March 1, 2020
And some fans are even going right up to the dugout to air their grievances, not giving the team a chance to forget or move on.
Some of these fans are getting right up in there at spring training pic.twitter.com/3CS9F2F9lg
— Very Baseball Moments (@verymlb) February 29, 2020
This might all seem like it’s small potatoes that will eventually blow over, but then again we’re talking about baseball fans. They do not take kindly to cheating, especially cheating that goes relatively unpunished. Just imagine how loud these boos are going to be when the season starts and the Astros are playing in cavernous stadiums packed with people excited for the chance to heckle them. It may die down eventually, especially if Houston sputters this season, but don’t expect that to happen for a while, especially if the Astros organization remains indignant and defiant.
[FTW, Asterisk Tour]