The Houston Astros have given their fans plenty to cheer about over the last decade, but the team felt let down by the hometown faithful after Game 1 of the American League Wild-Card Series (ALWC).
The visiting Chicago White Sox took Game 1 6-3; that was bad enough for the players. But what rubbed salt in the wound was the abundance of empty seats and the vociferous boos from those who bothered to show up.
The announced crowd of 34,011 fell well below – 21% below, to be exact- the typical post-season sell-out crowd. Estimates put 7,157 seats unsold—a shockingly high figure for a playoff game.
When asked to explain the poor showing from the fans, Astros reliever Bennett Souza pointed to the team’s success over the last decade: “definitely spoiled,” Souza told reporters.
“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 OK. We can live with that,” Sousa told reporters. “But as a team, we know that we lay it on the line every day. We’ve been working our ass off. We’ve been playing hard. We got in the playoffs. We just really need the support of our fans.”
The explanation makes sense.
The Astros advanced to the World Series or the American League Championship Series seven times from 2017 to 2023. That run of excellence could make even the most loyal fanbase complacent.
Moreover, fans likely found this particular Astros squad uninspiring, given how they made the playoffs. Houston won the very subpar AL West in the last game of the regular season with an 81-81 record. In fact, the Stros are the only team in the postseason without a winning record.
Sousa in particular struggled. After AJ Blubaugh walked the first three Chicago hitters in the seventh inning, Sousa came on to slow the bleeding but allowed two runners to reach.
Things got worse when a wild pitch from Sousa allowed a runner to score.
“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, according to The Athletic. “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.”
Astros 1st baseman Christian Walker picked up that theme.
“It’s extremely frustrating as a home player,” Walker told The Athletic. “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.”
Astros fans will have a chance to redeem themselves on Wednesday night, when they host the White Sox for Game 2 of the ALWC.