This is my best George Will impersonation.  You know, George Will the prototypical Uniparty establishment Republican, who above all, espouses the talking points of Conservatism (Never Trump!) Inc.  In his spare time Mr. Will waxes eloquent on other topics, like baseball.

And that’s where I want to step in.  I have no beef with Mr. Will’s take on America’s pastime, but would like to add some of my own.

Let me start by declaring, in the interest of full disclosure, that I am an unabashed Houston Astros fan.  I don’t care about the “sign stealing” scandal from their 2017 World Series championship.  I’ve heard too many baseball insiders declare that everybody was doing it.  The only reason the Astros were called out on it is because they did win the World Series and as such, came under much greater scrutiny.  But regardless…

My rant here speaks, to some degree, to the mercenary nature of what Major League Baseball has become, though this is nothing new.  Teams sign young prospects that they hope will become big time stars for relatively paltry sums.  If, and when, they do blossom into the stars the front office hoped they would, their value in the free market makes it increasingly difficult for the teams that nurtured them to this point, to retain them.

Two cases in point, relative to my Astros: George Springer was a phenomenal star for the Astros and was instrumental in their 2017 World Series victory, hitting some BIG home runs at critical junctures.  Likewise, Carlos Correa was a huge contributor in their string of, during his run with the Astros, five straight ALCS appearances.

Where are these guys today?  Springer, who had an abbreviated playoff run, is in Toronto; Correa is in Minnesota, and met the Astros in the American League Divisional Series.  Correa had his moments in game two of the series with a couple of big hits, driving in three runs in Minnesota’s lone win of the series.  To do this against his former teammates, I’m sure, was a major triumph for Mr. Correa.

The bottom line though, is that both players, as outstanding as they are, are now sitting at home watching their former teammates compete for yet another league championship and potentially, another World Series crown.

During last year’s World Series, I was amused at the prospect of Carlos Correa in the network booth offering his analysis on his young gun replacement at shortstop for the Astros, Jeremy Pena, who would go on to win the World Series MVP.

I’m thinking, who would you rather be?  The guy in the booth talking about the players on the field, or the guy on the field playing for a World Series championship?

Every time the Astros front office is confronted by a player who’s reached free agency and looking for that big payday somewhere else, they should show the clip of Correa singing the praises of his replacement and World Series MVP while watching from the sidelines.

I think the point I’m trying to make here is that baseball is a team sport.  No matter how great an individual player is, without a solid supporting cast, you’ll never go very deep into the playoffs.  Offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen, big hits, or big outs in big moments, collectively, are what win championships and neither Springer nor Correa, as great as they are — and I love them both for their time in Houston — can do all of that on their own.

This is why the Houston Astros are going to their seventh straight American League Championship series.  They know it isn’t about a single player, and they certainly have some of the best; Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Jordan Alvarez, Jose Abreau, Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Christian Javier, Ryan Pressly, and a supporting cast second to none.

The Astros will meet their in-state and divisional rivals, the Texas Rangers for the ALCS.  I’m certainly not declaring the Astros the winners at this point.   The Rangers have built a very solid team, consisting of all the components mentioned above.  It should be a very exciting series, as I’m sure the World Series, against whichever team survives and advances from the National League after it, will be too.

I, for one, am thrilled to put our internal political B.S. on the back burner for just a few weeks and sit back and enjoy another Fall Classic.  Something I think George Will and I can agree on.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.