Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 733

In his own view, he merely uttered a catchphrase and made a harmless gesture, entirely as a joke, but he didn't expect such behavior would lead to unbearable consequences.

For the Astros, Gurriel's suspension also has a significant impact: although he did something foolish during the game, his performance on the field has been quite outstanding—

Up to this point in the playoffs, although Gurriel has no RBIs or home runs, his batting average is as high as .529, with an OPS of an astounding 1.261. He is a crucial link in the latter part of the powerful Astros lineup, playing an extremely vital lubricating role.

There wasn't much difference between the Astros and the Yankees' batting lineups to begin with, and the Yankees are far ahead in terms of starting pitchers and bullpen depth; now Gurriel's suspension means the Astros lose a key connection in their latter batting order, and such an impact cannot be underestimated—from a certain perspective, the Astros are somewhat at a dead end.

But for some in this locker room, this may be an opportunity: Astros bench coach Alex Cora and locker room leader Carlos Beltran exchanged a glance, understanding each other's thoughts without words.

"Yuli has been suspended now, which greatly affects us, I think everyone understands this... So we must win the second game coming up, does anyone have any objections to that?"

Relying on his seniority and reputation as a well-known veteran star in the league, Beltran naturally opened the topic. When he said this, he deliberately emphasized the word "must"—and upon hearing this, the Astros players in the locker room knew exactly what he meant.

After all, this wasn't the first time they'd done it: starting in May of the regular season, the Houston Astros began their operation of stealing pitch signals from other teams.

By using cameras set up in the center field to capture the opposing team's catcher giving pitch signals to the pitcher, and using computers to quickly analyze the type of pitch, players or staff receiving the signals would find ways to make different sounds from the bench area or have bullpen members warming up beneath the outfield mimic signals, allowing their batters to know the pitch coming from the opposing pitcher.

Such tactics had worked time and again for the Astros. Their extraordinarily high home game winning rate and remarkably low strikeout rate during the regular season owed much to this:

Before frequently using such signal-stealing tactics, the Astros secured only 84 wins in the 2016 season, with a team strikeout rate ranked middle among the league; this season, their record became 101 wins, and the team strikeout rate plunged to just 17.3%, ranking first among the 30 teams.

In some respects, stealing signals is also part of baseball games, much like a player on second base can use special positioning to spot the pitcher's grip and signal teammates, which is also part of the rules;

But the Astros' issue was that the way they stole signals bypassed major league officials' layers of surveillance through electronic devices, profiting through improper means, and the problem there is much larger, even considered an unethical, unfair competition-cheating behavior.

If such cheating methods were exposed, the Astros would certainly face societal condemnation and severe penalties. It's not like no one on the team had objected to such behavior; like coach Hinch and star player Jose Altuve, both had expressed strong opposition, yet under the instigation of distinguished players like Beltran and bench coach Cora, these few objections were coerced by "public opinion" to reluctantly allow this behavior to exist.

If it wasn't for almost being discovered by the opposing team during a game against the Chicago White Sox on September 22, stopping the signal-stealing briefly, the American League's top seat probably wouldn't have been occupied by the Cleveland Indians.

And now, trailing 0-1 in the series and with their main first baseman suspended for his stupidity, Carlos Beltran and Alex Cora, the two instigators, are getting restless once more.

There's no way around it, the lure of the World Series championship is too strong for them and many Astros players:

This year, 40-year-old Beltran has almost won all the individual awards a player can get, but he has no team honors at all, twice falling short of the championship in finals of the classic tournament, and losing the 2013 World Series to the Boston Red Sox—his desire for a championship is nearly pathological;

And Alex Cora doesn't want to remain a bench coach; he wants to leave the Astros after this season and head to a top team where he can hold full power, and with the Boston Red Sox having just fired John Farrell, he sees them as a good choice.

To beat out other rivals, like Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway, he also needs such a championship to prove himself;

As for the other players in the locker room, it's even simpler: winning the World Series would mean more money and a better life for each of them, and since Beltran and Cora promised them there would be no exposure, and even if exposed, it wouldn't have much impact, why wouldn't they go for it?

Stars like Altuve, an MVP candidate, can naturally stick to their principles, as he's not lacking in honors or money, and enjoys the fans' adoration;

But he couldn't stop the other teammates from doing it—being part of this team, by choosing to acquiesce to this behavior, he had already become complicit.

"Judging from everyone's reactions, I think we've reached a consensus..." Seeing teammates with various expressions yet no one speaking out against it, a satisfied smile appeared on Beltran's face.

Beside him, Alex Cora patted the fierce-looking Yuli Gurriel, softly comforting him: "Don't worry, Yuli, we'll definitely get you into the World Series—I've heard that tonight's starting pitcher for the Yankees is Lin Guanglai, we'll help you get revenge."

"Then promise me, make sure to completely destroy that Chink!" Gurriel gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with a savage light.

At this point, Beltran didn't mind posing as the locker room leader: "Don't worry, Yuli, we'll make sure to deal with him harshly—but publicly, you have to at least apologize to him face-to-face, you know, it's for your own good."

As for Lin Guanglai and the New York Yankees players, they had no idea what was happening in the Astros' locker room; compared to the turmoil outside, the Yankees players were simply preparing for the second game of the series as usual.

However, in the minds of many on the team, they felt practically no different from already securing a 2-0 series lead:

The starting pitcher for the second game was confirmed as Lin Guanglai, and the Yankees players simply couldn't fathom how the Astros would break through him;

Right now, the only thing they needed to consider was how their lineup would score against Justin Verlander, the Tigers' King, on the mound.

Although already 34 this year, after joining the Astros in Houston, Verlander seemed to have rejuvenated: since joining the Astros, he hasn't lost a single game, averaging more than seven innings per start, and his ERA is as low as 1.02, not at all showing signs of decline.

The turmoil inside and outside the field caused by Game 1 of the series further boosted the series' viewership ratings; under countless watchful eyes, the second confrontation between the Yankees and Astros arrived.