Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel was asked about the possibility of the team having a World Series hangover in 2018.
Keuchel respond: "We're not the Cubs. I firmly believe we have better players."
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) March 9, 2018
This is the kind of confidence that you see in a team that has just won a World Series. It usually sounds very ignorant and unrelatable to the common baseball fan. When you hear somebody like Dallas Keuchel say something like, “Oh we won’t have a WS hangover because our players are so fucking good that a hangover won’t affect us”, you may think that he is being unrealistic and ridiculous.
The way that I think of this whole type of situation is that the kind of players that can break through and perform in Postseason Baseball are actual unrealistic people. What sane person would bet that a game started by Lance McCullers and former Cy Young runner-up Yu Darvish was won by McCullers? Nobody. But postseason baseball brings out a completely different player sometimes, and when you look at an entire MLB roster, the adrenaline from a Postseason start can carry three to four players to a few innings or a few at-bats where their play is elevated to a completely different level. A World Series team usually has multiple players playing above their potential and contributing to a team much more than they ever have in their career.
The fact that Astros players don’t think that they will suffer a World Series hangover is exactly what you want to hear if you are an Astros fan. You need the cocky assholes on the block that seem like they are so dumb and stupid that they don’t even know that they are the target in Major League Baseball. After watching it with the Cubs in 2017, the World Series Hangover is real. You are the team that every other organization circles on their schedule when it comes out in January. It is just human nature to focus on a series with the defending World Champs rather than give your full attention to a three game series against the San Diego Padres. Every game, you are facing your opponent’s best possible effort, both mentally and physically.
I do think that this Astros team is incredibly talented. The chance that they become the first team since the Yankees three-peated from 1998-2000 is so low that I would bet my college debt on it. Double or nothing. Teams playing you at 100% will wear any team down all season. Plus, injuries have to go your way, and that is mostly luck and destiny. Thr Astros need to compete with teams like the Yankees and Red Sox who have both added pieces that make them a threat to the AL Crown this season.
A lot can go wrong for the Astros this season, and the fact that they are comparing themselves to last season’s Chicago Cubs team makes me laugh out loud. That team wasn’t even that good and they made it to the NLCS.
Astros, I hate to break it to you, but you WILL face a World Series hangover. You will even question making it to the Postseason at one point. Nothing but the best for you this season…. but honestly I hope you eat shit after hearing these comments.
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