Astros Outlast Red Sox to Reach Third World Series in Five Years
The New York Times
Stained by a scandal but unfazed on the field, Houston returns to baseball’s biggest stage looking for another ring.
HOUSTON — Depending on your point of view, the Houston Astros are fascinating, maddening or confusing. Maybe, though, they are all of that at once. The world, after all, is many shades of gray.
Some baseball fans may never forgive the franchise for cheating during its 2017 World Series-winning season. Those transgressions were exposed in November 2019 and subsequently investigated by Major League Baseball, which said the Astros’ illicit sign-stealing scheme continued for at least part of 2018. The league handed down penalties before the 2020 season.
Still, the Astros are enjoying one of the best runs in baseball history, all the while continuing to unnerve fans and opponents. The general manager is different now. So is the manager. As is the cast of characters surrounding the core group of players. Yet the Astros keep winning. Maybe they didn’t need a trash can.
