And they don't sacrifice striking out a lot for the homeruns which most teams who lead the league in hrs do. They have the third fewest strikeouts in the league.
I had the misfortune of watching MLB Tonight that had 3 clowns pretending to be analysts and maybe I stepped when they were talking about the Astros, but i swear they never mentioned the Astros. They kept riding the nuts of Vlad Jr and Cody Bellinger and some ridiculous banter about double rainbows. Don't get me wrong, I love double rainbows, but this was not Double Rainbows Tonight. How about discussing the best team in baseball instead?
They barely said anything. Astros are not only the *best* team, but also a *historic* offense. Only 6 other teams in MLB history have had 30 HRs in 10 games. The Astros extended the feat ratio-wise with 3 more last night making it 33 in 11. Had it been East Coast, West Coast, or Chicago, they wouldn't stop talking about it.
Perhaps they are tired of taking about them. The Astros get plenty of love, respect and attention from the national media.
From good national media, I would agree Astros get plenty of respect for the on-field team and attention, but not necessarily love and respect for how their front office operates. A lot of people do not like how the Astros do things even if it means Astros have a better team (e.g., treatment of scouts, Osuna).
I see more teams and front offices emulating the Astros than not. Results speak for themselves. Sorta like the antithesis of what the Rockets end result has caused (ie - a perceived backlash to excessive 3’s, etc). I also think the Astros front office decisions have evolved and adjusted in the time of going from rebuild to contender.
The Astros have a reputation in the media as a team that values wins regardless of the cost. Followers don't get the emotional responses from the media that leaders do. The media respects the wins, but don't like the means that were used to obtain them. The Astros get blamed for the tanking now and scouts being let go whether or not the Astros are the ones currently tanking/shrinking on-field scouting department for more video scouts/analysts.
I watched some of the A's/Mariners game and the Astros and George Springer were both mentioned in a respectful way by the A's booth.
They don't get tired of talking LA, NY, BOS, or the Cubs. Astros are executing a historic offensive run. A's showed respect to a division opponent. Nice
And more importantly, from national fans. The Astros appeal at multiple levels. On the one hand, they're putting together absurd numbers. Everybody loves that. And it takes absolutely minimal effort to talk about, and if there's one thing that's consistent across all forms of media, it's the neverending drives towards minimal, nonexistent effort. On the other hand, these Astros are also possibly the most likeable team in any sport ever. That sounds like hyperbole and there's certainly no way to "prove" it, but, honestly, look at these guys. They're so positive and so much fun to watch in the dugout, and they all love each other. That's anathema to the media which is so steeped in negativity and "controversy" that it doesn't have a clue how to tell a positive story. "If it bleeds, it leads" is the methodology in all forms of media. Fans, however, LOVE IT. The amount of orange we saw at ballparks across the nation last year was incredible. I feel pretty confident that the Astros have pierced right through the media veil, and, whatever the talking heads are babbling about or for how long, when a lot of people out there hear the word "Astros," they get some warm fuzzies somewhere. And that's awesome.
Imo, Houston has gotten a lot of love and it's even nice to hear the media to point out that Houston just wasn't healthy in the postseason in 2018. And it's not like they are taking away from the Red Sox but they recognize it could have gone a different way.
I was thinking about this a little more last night, and I wanted to revisit it. While I absolutely still would take nine 1s over one 9, the line from last night's game is even better. That's because it's frontloaded with runs, which gives the starting pitcher plenty of flexibility and confidence to go out there and do their thing instead of having to play a more cautious, calculated game. And that's great for a pitcher. And something that was severely missing last year, when many of the Astros' games were backloaded, and their starters were trying to keep the opponent at zero runs for 6-7 innings. So, actually 3-3-1-1-1-1-0-1-0 is an even better batting distribution even if a couple innings had goose eggs.
solid is an understatement. He's been spectacular. I know it's not even half of a season yet but someone posted the splits between Chirinos and the highly sought after Realmuto amd I was in disbelief. I was also in disbelief he didn't get a concussion on that pitch to helmet.
And also, there is a reason they were talking about Vlad and Bellinger. Vlad is one of the most hyped prospects in a long time. He hit his first two home runs last night. Bellinger is putting up ridiculous numbers. Hitting over .400 and slugging close to .800.
I will add this, I was stuck in the car for part of Monday's game and had to listen to the Detroit feed on XM. Normally I loathe listening to the opponents broadcast, however, their radio guys went on and on about how great this Astros team is. They were very complimentary when talking about our players and threw out all kinds of stats to back up what they were saying. They talked up the home team too, but I was pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable and objective they were about the 'Stros.
While some may not have liked our tank strategy that got us where we are, even less like rooting for the Yankees or Boston. So perhaps of the top teams, at least in the AL, we are easier to praise than the others. And as others have pointed out, it might just be we are more fun to watch and have more players to like.
Not sure the media is as critical of the means when it turned out to be a justified strategy. Its certainly a more well thought-out/complicated strategy vs just throwing tons of money at end-of-prime players.