houston-astros Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Strikes and Balks: A list of things ailing Major League Baseball
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire aren’t walking through that door....
IDIOT OF THE YEAR #8: Rob Manfred, who got everything wrong
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:...
Rob Manfred is fertilizer
I can’t say that Rob Manfred is bad at his job, at least not entirely. Because his job is to make sure that all 30 owners squeeze the sport for every last dollar possible, and he’s done that. It doesn’t really matter if he kills the league in the process, because his bosses don’t care. It’s simply a...
Yes, Justin Verlander is worth every penny he makes on the open market
The 2022 MLB offseason is filled with outstanding free agents. With studs like Kevin Gausman, Freddie Freeman, Max Scherzer, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, and Kris Bryant all on the market, the MLB hot stove is sure to overcook the souffle many times over before March....
Zack Greinke saves the Astros
Well, not really, Of course not. We all know that’s a ridiculous notion. But what my book presupposes is...maybe he did?...
The baseball is good at the World Series, but Baseball is horrendous
Once you get past the Astros merely being there again after suffering no meaningful consequences for their cheating, and the racist Chop, and the scheduled attendance of Donald Trump at Game 4, and the idea that losing awaiting-trial-on-felony-charges Marcell Ozuna was some kind of “adversity” that ...
'Analytics understander' A-Rod logs on and fails in October once again
Does Alex Rodriguez know what “analytics” means? You would think he should, being a television commentator for baseball in 2021, but life is full of surprises — such as A-Rod praising the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the World Series for an “anti-analytics inning.”...
MLB Rebuilding in 2021: Totally luck out, and just find a great international player
Where would the Braves be without Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr.? Where would the Padres be without Fernando Tatís Jr.? What about the Astros with Carlos Correa, José Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, and Yordan Álvarez?...
Before baseball’s grandest show, let’s get one last laugh at the Mets
MLB will showcase, at least in theory, its best for the next week to 10 days. The World Series doesn’t usually pair the two best teams, depending on definition, but it does pair the two that are playing best at the moment. And it’s got all the stakes that matter. Whatever the participants, it’s supp...
Dusty Baker is heading back to the World Series, as Astros beat Red Sox
The one good thing about the Astros returning to the World Series, which they’ll do after wrapping up the American League pennant with a 5-0 win over the Red Sox in Game 6 on Friday night, is that Dusty Baker will get his chance to finally manage his way to a World Series ring....
Red Sox thumpin’ grand slams at a historic rate
Kyle Schwarber’s second-inning grand slam put the Astros into an early 6-0 deficit that they would never get the chance to overcome, as the Red Sox piled on the homers in Fenway Park during a rowdy ALCS Game 3 on Monday night. The early clout was a morale boost at home — on top of the four runs it d...
There is no escape from the Astros
The longer the Astros stick around, the more baseball fans complain and bring out the tired jokes about their cheating. Maybe more opponents get suspicious, as Chisox pitcher Ryan Tepera did after Game 3. This is obviously the price the Astros have to pay for 2017’s scandal, and the only price they...
32 teams need to hear this: There is no pitching formula for the playoffs
Many years ago now, baseball pundits and fans tried to come up with a “secret sauce” for success in the playoffs. It can be pretty infuriating to simply accept that the sport’s biggest prize is handed out at the conclusion of a tournament that is essentially random. There had to be a reason these th...
White Sox-Astros just got interesting
It was a weird one on the Southside. The story of Dusty Baker being a goofus when the postseason comes has faded over the years, even if some still reach for it. He’s learned how the game has changed in the past decade. He just can’t seem to catch a break....
How can I root for Dusty Baker, and not these Ass-tros?
MLB America has a real dilemma....
The last playoffs
A few years ago, I was in a bar and got into an argument with a semi-regular (who I didn’t much care for) about which sport has the best postseason. He was a real #PleaseLikeMySport hockey fan, and I had felt (and still do) that the MLB playoffs had surpassed the NHL playoffs as the most enjoyable. ...
Why are fans OK with this?
MLB would like us to think that there was a poignant moment in the A’s-Astros game, and to a lesser extent the Mariners one. It’s when Carlos Correa and Kyle Seager were pulled from the game mid-inning to receive a standing ovation from the crowd. ...
Massive regular-season win streaks mean nothing in the playoffs
The Cardinals’ team-record winning streak has gotten St. Louis into the playoffs, but the old saying in baseball is that momentum is only the next day’s starting pitcher, and as good as the Redbirds have been in September, bringing home a first World Series championship since 2011 remains a longshot...
Another Oakland A’s window is closing without much to show for it
Considering the constraints (some of them self-imposed, admittedly), it’s kind of amazing how often the A’s can reinvent themselves and put together a window of contention. The problem is those windows don’t tend to lead anywhere....