Are the Houston Astros being motivated by revenge against their critics? That’s not what their players are saying.
On Wednesday, SNY’s Andy Martino reported that Astros players were saying behind the scenes that they were being motivated by “haters” who were critical of them in light of the team’s sign-stealing scheme. The report said that they were “very into the idea of avenging themselves” against teams like the Yankees and Dodgers who had been critical.
Two Houston players — pitcher Lance McCullers and outfielder Josh Reddick — publicly took issue with Martino’s reporting.
This is such fake news. We just here to play ball. We are focused and into the idea of winning… because it’s the playoffs. https://t.co/baIAx9oWdm
— Lance McCullers Jr. (@lmccullers43) October 7, 2020
Stirring the pot Andy? I haven’t heard ONE teammate say this. https://t.co/rOnbzKbWYb
— Josh Reddick (@RealJoshReddick) October 7, 2020
It’s not often that players respond so directly to reporting about them. Maybe it’s not true, or maybe they actually don’t want that perception going around.
One thing the Astros are embracing is the perception of themselves as underdogs. It’s certainly true that plenty are rooting for them to lose. Whether they care about that or not is an entirely different question.
