The Houston Astros are not happy with their fans after their Game 1 Wild Card loss to the Chicago White Sox. Players didn’t appreciate being booed in a stadium that wasn’t even close to being full.
The game began with Astros pitcher A.J. Blubaugh simply unable to find the plate. He walked three batters and threw just 13 strikes in 27 pitches before being lifted for Bryan King. King then proceeded to give up four hits, leaving the Astros down 3-0 after two innings.
So Astros fans had reason to be upset.
As for why attendance during the opening game of the playoffs in Houston only drew an announced 34,011 fans, 7,157 below capacity or around 21 percent? Maybe it had something to do with the Astros being the first team ever to win their division and first ever to make the postseason with a .500 record. And that was only because they won their final game of the season. If they hadn’t, they would have ended the regular season 80-82 and in a tie for first place in the American League West with the Texas Rangers.
What did Houston Astros players say about the fans booing them?
“The fans here are definitely spoiled with a lot of ALCS and World Series runs, and we have to earn that right to bring this team back to that position,” The Athletic reports Astros reliever Bennett Sousa said. “That being said, when this team was in their first (playoff) series 10 years ago, Minute Maid Park was probably packed. It makes a big difference. If we were in Chicago, it’d probably be loud as s—.”
Ever since the Houston Astros cheated their way to a World Series title in 2017, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s complete flubbing of the investigation into it, it’s hard for anyone to muster up any sympathy for the team, even if most of the current Astros had nothing to do with it.
“As a team and as a staff, we know how we feel about our guys. And if that’s felt differently from the outside — that’s okay. We can live with that,” Sousa continued. “But as a team, we know that we lay it on the line every day. We’ve been working our a– off. We’ve been playing hard. We got in the playoffs. We just really need the support of our fans.”
Astros players called it ‘extremely frustrating’ that they were booed
Astros first baseman Christian Walker, who had a lackluster game, committing an error, and not covering first on one play, also complained.
“It’s extremely frustrating as a home player,” Walker said. “We’re here, playing at home; we need cheers. We need energy. We don’t need boos. What purpose does that serve in that moment? Whatever fans are feeling, we’re feeling it tenfold. We’re the ones out there. We’re the ones in the fight. We worked our butts off this whole season to put ourselves in this spot, and for guys to get booed, it’s frustrating.”
After spiking several sliders in the seventh inning, allowing the White Sox to score and Braden Montgomery to reach first base (when Walker wasn’t covering), the Astros got booed again.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I was pretty pissed off in the dugout when I came in, about the boos,” Sousa said. “This team has laid a lot on the line to be in this position to give the fans a playoff game — a playoff series. We want their support.”
Houston Astros players will get a chance to redeem themselves on Wednesday in Game 2 of the series. Whether the fans show up, and boo, remains to be seen. Either way, Christian Walker says they will try to “play for the right reasons and get this thing back on track.”
“I think we need to come together and do it for ourselves,” said Walker, ignoring who it is that he and the rest of the Astros players are actually playing for.