Roughly 12,000 fans gathered in Oakland for each of the four opening-series games between the Athletics and Astros last week, many of them ready to unleash a torrential downpour of boos and bangs that’d been building for more than a year on baseball’s biggest villains. Despite MLB's releasing its report declaring the Astros cheated during the 2017 and 2018 seasons about 15 months ago, opposing fans hadn’t yet relished the opportunity to shower the guilty players with their due derision after being forced to stay home last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Houston made sure A’s fans had more to jeer about than cheer. By the end of the weekend, the boo birds were circling both teams.
Facing perhaps the most passionate heckles of their career—albeit from a limited-capacity crowd—the Astros won their first four road games for the first time in franchise history (a streak that was ended by a late Angels comeback in Anaheim on Monday night). In fact, Houston never trailed the entire series, beating the defending American League West champs 8–1, 9–5, 9–1 and 9–2 to become the fourth team in history to plate at least eight runs in its first four games. After scoring just 25 runs against Oakland’s pitching staff in 10 games last season, the Astros touched up the talented unit for 35 runs in the series.
The largest cheer may have rung out in response to Carlos Correa, the primary antagonist in the eyes of many, being plunked on Opening Day by starter Chris Bassitt (it almost certainly wasn’t on purpose). Other than that, it was a somber affair for A’s fans hoping they’d witness a comeuppance.
Even after their loss to Los Angeles on Monday night—which was briefly paused in the sixth inning to remove an inflatable trash can thrown onto the field and again in the eighth when Angels fans upped the stakes with a real recycling bin—the Astros lead the majors thus far in runs per game (8.2), home runs (9) and slugging percentage (.527), and rank second in OPS (.918) behind only the Dodgers.
The four hitters still in Houston who were involved in the scandal have looked determined to redeem themselves after slumping in 2020, prompting what may have been premature grave dancing on the Astros dynasty. Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel rank ninth and 11th in the majors, respectively, in OPS. Jose Altuve leads the majors with nine runs scored and is 8-for-21 (.381/.480/.429). Correa is the lone member of the quartet who hasn’t quite found his groove, but he had a two-hit game Monday and had already reminded everyone of his offensive prowess in last year’s playoffs.
The A’s are the defending AL West champions, but after Houston eliminated Oakland from last year’s playoffs and stormed out of the Oakland Coliseum with a season-opening sweep, the Astros are the division’s team to beat. And it doesn’t seem like they’ll be too bothered by the chilly receptions they’ll receive across the country all summer long.
