The Houston Astros got exactly the kind of reception their performance invited in the American League Wild Card round.
Chicago needed only two games to sweep Houston out of the postseason, and the White Sox made the AL West winners look nothing like a real October threat. The Astros entered the round at 81-81, good enough to host because they had won a very weak division, but that edge never felt like much of an advantage at Daikin Park.
On Tuesday, a late afternoon Game 1 drew just over 34,000 fans. By the time the White Sox had finished off a 6-3 win, boos were already rolling down on the home team. There were also more than 7,000 empty seats in a ballpark watching a club that had struggled down the stretch simply to get into the field.
Those boos were back on Wednesday afternoon, and they got louder as Houston’s season ended with a 7-3 loss. With the Astros down to their final two outs, a “Let’s go White Sox” chant broke out.
There’s no denying what Houston has done over the past 10 years: two World Series titles and two other trips to the Fall Classic. That kind of run can spoil a fan base, and maybe it did. But this year’s team never looked like those previous Astros clubs that set the standard in the sport.
Over these two games, Houston looked like a .500 team because that’s what it was. There were flashes, sure, but far more often the Astros played like a club that had no business in the postseason.
Christian Walker told The Athletic that the team was feeling “frustration,” but the fans had every right to respond the way they did. People who spend their money on tickets, parking, concessions and everything else that comes with going to a game are entitled to make themselves heard when the product falls short.
The standards are high in South Texas, and this Astros team didn’t come close to meeting them. The fans knew it, and by Wednesday they were already ready to move on.
In the end, Chicago didn’t just eliminate Houston. It exposed the Astros.
The division title got them into October, but it never made them look like a team built for a real run. The wild-card round just put that reality in full view.
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