Houston Astros should take opening day schedule as slap in the face
With the announcement the Washington Nationals will be playing the New York Yankees on the revamped opening day, the Houston Astros have essentially been disrespected.
When baseball resumes with a prime-time game on the newly established opening day of July 23rd, the World Champion Washington Nationals will take on the New York Yankees. Left out in the cold, or rather, left to open up their season with the rest of baseball’s second-tier teams, is the Houston Astros.
The Astros will take the field the following day when the majority of teams open up the shortened 2020 slate. Those games have not been announced yet, though I’m putting my money on the ‘Stros playing a bottom feeder like the Seattle Mariners or Detroit Tigers.
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The Astros have played in two of the last three World Series’ and in their series with the Nationals, had to go seven games for a winner to be crowned.
Seems like they have been replaced as the American League frontrunner faster than Gerrit Cole can replace an Astros hat with a Scott Boras Corporation hat.
Maybe it was the sign-stealing scandal, maybe it is the fact Cole is now the headline starter in the Bronx, maybe it’s Major League Baseball doing whatever it can to get a sexy matchup day one. Fans were frustrated with the continuous back and forth and ultimate stalemate between the MLBPA and owners, so putting the Yankees in place of the Astros was a must.
Pitting the Astros against the Nationals surely was an option, and even having a doubleheader the first night could play well. Similar to the opening Monday Night game during the NFL season, where multiple games are played, the Astros could have been the opening game preceding the Nats/Yanks matchup.
Have the Astros not earned that much at least? Well, did they earn the World Series title in 2017, or did the trash-can scandal diminish that? It may be awkward to start off with the Astros and have Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve run out there to get hit by pitches, assuming the HBP tour is still on.
Next. Vladimir Gutierrez suspended 80 games. dark
Whether the title is tarnished or not, the Houston Astros are still a young and exciting team. To not be given a slot (or even consideration possibly) on opening day is a slap in the face to the franchise. Exactly like the one they gave the other twenty-nine teams by cheating in the first place.