The Houston Astros won the World Series in 2017, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. They advanced to the Fall Classic after beating the New York Yankees in the ALCS, also in seven games.
Phillies shortstop Didi Gregorius was a member of that Yankees team. He had three home runs, seven RBIs and a .345 OBP that postseason, but the Yankees, who led the ALCS 3-2, couldn’t get over the hump.
The Astros’ cheating may have had something to do with that.
Many people in the baseball world – players, fans, analysts – were rooting for the Astros to fail this season. Gregorius, however, was not.
“To be honest, I don’t root bad against anybody,” Gregorius said on Reiter Than You. “They’re there for a reason. Every person that’s there or every team that’s there, they’re there for a reason. Personally, I want everybody to be successful in life. I don’t root against anybody or want a person to do bad. I’m not that type of person.”
The Astros finished the regular season with a losing record (29-31) but won five of their first six playoff games, beating the Twins 2-0 in the AL Wild Card and the Athletics 3-1 in the ALDS.
Houston fell behind Tampa Bay 3-0 in the ALCS but won three straight games to force a Game 7. Ultimately, though, the Astros fell short of their third Fall Classic in four seasons.
“They didn’t play really good [in the regular season], but they got in [the playoffs] and upset some teams,” Gregorius said. “At the end of the day, Tampa was a better team than them, so they got knocked out. But to see how far [they went] playing the right way . . . they shouldn’t have [cheated]. They could have played normally and still made it that far.”