The Stros Also Rise
If you’re reading this, I don’t have to tell you that this off-season has been a disaster for the Houston Astros, but I will anyway. It started with a heart breaking loss in Game 7 of the World Series, a game that saw the Astros holding the lead late in the game until Howie Freaking Kendrick reached out and poked a Will Harris cutter off the right field foul pole. That just wrapped up a frustrating series in which the Astros couldn’t manage to win one single game at Minute Maid.
If that wasn’t enough, Gerrit Cole immediately after Game 7 went on camera claiming that he was no longer an employee of the team and then decided to sign a mega deal with the Yankess (the f****** Yankees).Oh, and then we lost Will Harris to the team that just beat us in the World Series, we lost Robinson Chirinos to the Rangers, and fan-favorite Jake Marisnick was also shipped out. All of this because Billionaire owner Jim Crane made the decision that he just can’t afford to pay the luxury tax.
Then Mike Fiers and Ken Rosenthal happened. Then the punishment was handed out. Then Jim Crane went on live TV and fired Jeff Lunhow and AJ Hinch, the masterminds of the recent Astros’ resurgence. Regardless of your stance on the sign-stealing scandal, the report, the commissioner’s punishment, and Crane’s punishment, all of which we can debate until the end of time, I think we can all agree that this is just the culmination of an absolutely brutal 3 months for Houston Astros fans (and I didn’t even mention Brandon Taubman or Roberto Osuna). But we have been through tough stretches before and we came out the other side just fine, even if aided by a trash can.
The point of all this is to say that baseball has a beautiful way of balancing out the highs and the lows. The sun will always rise on the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and so on. Some of these days will be good and some of these days will be bad, but we will always get another chance tomorrow.
So even if the news Monday and for the past few months has been bad, there’s still reason to be optimistic for the future. Spring Training is just around the corner, we will find a capable manager, and we still have a big league club that is talented enough to win it all. Here’s to the Stros rising again; and may it be sooner rather than later.
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**Photo Credit: Getty Images**
