No gag order for champions
So long as Astros focus on task at hand, A.J. Hinch sees no reason players can’t bask in 2017 glory a bit longer
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The T-shirts trample all over any trademark that exists for “Back to the Future,” but nobody cares. They are sweet. The iconic logo from the 1985 blockbuster film is a perfect fit for “Back to Back 2018 … A Crush City Film.”
And the Astros look good in them, too.
Seems every time you hear an Astros player say the team has to forget about what happened in 2017 — you know, that little World Series thing that took the franchise 56 years to win? — the statement is soon followed by some reminder of what happened in 2017.
The T-shirt some sported Saturday, as they cheered on teammates in an annual basketball shooting contest, and scooted around Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on scooters, is another nod to the accomplishments of yesteryear.
With a confident statement about this year’s plans.
Nope, the Astros haven’t banned the word repeat, they haven’t forbidden players from openly talking about defending their title and, surprisingly, they haven’t even admonished or ignored media who insist on reliving last year’s glorious championship run.
“I haven’t gone all (Gregg) Popovich and (Bill) Belichick on you and told you to shut your mouth,” manager A.J. Hinch said with a smile.
‘The right vibe’
Hinch may not want to follow the ways of the best coach in basketball and the best coach in football when it comes to dealing with media, but he definitely wants to follow their success in creating and sustaining a historical sports dynasty.
But first, the championship celebration continues. The Astros will be at the White House on Monday, and there is still a World Series banner to be revealed at the home opener April 2, and a ring ceremony slated for the next day at Minute Maid Park.
None of this has kept them from feeling very confident about their chances to repeat. Will they enter the season hungover from overindulging on 2017 champagne? Hardly, says Dallas Keuchel. “We’re not the Cubs,” he told the Washington Post.
The Cubs went from the best record in baseball and a World Series title in 2016, to the fourth-best record in the National League and a 4-1 wipeout at the hands of the Dodgers in the NLCS last season.
Despite having nearly the same roster as their championship season, the first for the club in 108 years, the Cubs got off to a slow start and never played as well as they had the year before. Surely an offseason of celebration played a part in the fallback.
The Astros are off to a great start in meaningless spring training games, but more importantly, they appear to be just as hungry and motivated as they were prior to winning it all. Their starting pitchers have allowed the fewest earned runs in MLB this spring.
“You can enjoy and bask in the glory of 2017 until it gets in the way of 2018,” Hinch said. “I haven’t really felt the need to implement anything different in that regard because our team has showed up with the right vibe, the right culture, the right characteristics that make me believe they’re solely focused on what we’re doing.”
Plus, they’re not afraid to say it on their chest.
There weren’t any back-toback T-shirts after the Patriots won their first Super Bowl. Instead, Belichick gave the team T-shirts that had the upcoming season’s AFC standings printed on the back. Every team had a 0-0 record. Belichick even put his squad in third place in its division on the shirt, because that is where it fell alphabetically.
Belichick went out of his way to make sure he never used the word “repeat” in the offseason.
Not an R-rated word
As amazed as Hinch is by what Belichick has done this century with the Patriots, the Astros are not under a gag order.
“I guess it hasn’t grown to the point of being a distraction,” Hinch said. “We should celebrate what we’ve done. If it ever gets in the way of what we’re currently doing, then I think I’d need to react that way. You can use the whole English language, or Spanish for that matter.”
Using the R-word, whether it is repeat or repitir, won’t factor into how this season turns out.
Belichick’s 2002 Patriots didn’t come close to pulling off a back-to-back. They didn’t even make the playoffs.
New England did win the next two Super Bowls, however, and has gone to five more with another two victories to establish the longest run of excellence in the Super Bowl era.
The Astros are just getting started on what they hope will be something similar. For now, even the manager is thinking back-to-back.
“There’s one team that gets to (go to the White House) in our sport every year, so we’re happy to be the team to do it,” Hinch said. “And to be honest with you, we’d like to be able to do it again.”
And again, and again.