30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts: #22

We've finally made the part of the countdown that will probably surprise just about everyone.  I've made it quite clear on my blog over the past few years that the Houston Astros were my "adopted" AL team to root for, especially since my Reds have been mostly pathetic in that time period.

Well, in what is the greatest drop by a single team in the rankings this year, I present team #22:

#22:  Houston Astros (2019 Rank:  #2)

That's right, Houston was my #2 favorite team in my countdown last year and now they drop all the way to number 22.  If you've followed baseball news at all in the past few weeks, you'll undoubtedly know why Houston fell so quickly.  In short, they cheated and that really sucks.

It sucks because Houston went to great pains to say they were doing things differently than most clubs, more analytics and less "by your gut" calls.  As a math guy, that appealed to me.  They also had a bunch of seemingly likable guys on their team including one of my favorite active players:  Jose Altuve.

Now?

Now I don't know what to think.  How much did Houston cheat?  Well, 2017 for sure but what about in 2018 or 2019.  Will they stop cheating in 2020 or just do something else that's maybe a bit less obvious than banging on a trash can.  Is Jose Altuve (among others) as good as his numbers suggest or are his numbers nothing but a product of all the cheating?

So why not drop them either further?

Well, even a cheating Astros team is probably still more palatable than the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cardinals for starters.  Next, I do believe that the Astros' pitchers were not cheating - and with the likes of Verlander and Cole (until this year of course), Houston had a dominate staff regardless of whatever shenanigans the hitters were up to.  Furthermore, the team still had to play half of its games on the road where it presumably couldn't cheat to the same extent, so it's not like it was win 100% of the games at home and lose everything on the road.  Still, it's a bad look and I'm currently wrestling with exactly how I feel about the whole thing.  As more reports and more news comes out, Houston may continue to drop in my rankings.

One piece of good news?  The Reds swept Houston last year (in Cincinnati though).  So at least I have that.

Next up in the countdown is another team that has fallen precipitously in my rankings.  A once Top-10 favorite team of mine is now going to be a bottom feeder in the standings (both mine and, most likely, the 2020 MLB season).


2020 Rankings:
#30:  New York Yankees
#29:  Boston Red Sox
#28:  St. Louis Cardinals
#27:  San Francisco Giants
#26:  Washington Nationals
#25:  Miami Marlins
#24:  Chicago Cubs
#23:  Milwaukee Brewers
#22:  Houston Astros
#21:  ??

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