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MLB Scout: Astros Will Need 'Riot Teams, SWAT' for Protection from Yankees Fans
February 29, 2020
The Houston Astros don't visit Yankee Stadium until September, but at least one team scout thinks the defending American League champions may need additional protection for their series against the New York Yankees.
The scout explained to MLB Network's Jon Heyman what the scene at Yankee Stadium could look like for the Astros.
"I can’t imagine the 1st game Astros play in NY," the scout said. "You are literally going to have to bring in Riot Teams, SWAT, etc. It is bad (with 2,000) fans and 3/4 are 90+ years. Continuous booing, cheaters, every pitch something. No idea how these guys can block it out during season."
The Yankees have been heavily connected to the Astros throughout the latter's cheating scandal that MLB's investigation determined was implemented by Houston for the entire 2017 season and playoffs.
Houston eliminated the Yankees from the 2017 American League Championship Series in seven games. The two teams played again in the ALCS last season, which the Astros won on Jose Altuve's walk-off two-run homer in Game 6.
Former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said during an appearance on Inside the NFL (h/t USA Today's Pete Caldera) he felt cheated out of possibly winning a World Series.
"As everything's been coming out, and the more facts that we get, it's getting frustrating...to sit here and know that late in my career I could've had a title, maybe (in 2017) or maybe '18, but we got cheated out (by) a team kind of doing something that's not within the rules of the game," he said.
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge told reporters that Houston "didn't earn" its 2017 World Series title: "It wasn't earned the way of playing the game right and fighting to the end."
Amid speculation that Altuve may have been wearing a buzzer when he hit the game-winning homer off Aroldis Chapman in last year's postseason, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal that Altuve told teammates not to rip off his jersey because "he had an unfinished tattoo that looked kinda bad."
The Astros have been loudly booed and heckled during spring training games. They will play their first road series of the regular season against the Oakland Athletics from March 30 to April 1.
Houston's only regular-season visit to Yankee Stadium will be a four-game series from Sept. 21-24.