Some Astros are upset with MLB as Bryan Abreu’s Game 7 suspension looms

HOUSTON – Game 7 of the American League Championship Series should be a celebration, of everything we love about the sport. It will have everything from Bruce Bochy vs. Dusty Baker to Max Scherzer vs. Christian Javier. But what won’t be nearly certain is Brian Abreu throwing the ball into relief for the Astros.

Abreu’s absence will cast an unwelcome shadow over Houston’s bullpen, a cloud that could reappear at the start of the World Series if his suspension is upheld and the Astros advance.

The situation has created an undercurrent of anger toward Major League Baseball among at least some Houston players and club officials.

Abreu’s two-game ban for intentionally throwing at Rangers’ Adulis Garcia will be appealed at a hearing on Monday. The decision will be announced by the first pitch.

John McHale Jr., MLB’s executive vice president of administration, will determine whether the suspension will be upheld, reduced to one game, or rescinded entirely. The timing leaves little time for either side to build its case. The league is effectively judge and jury. Based on precedent, the chances of McHale overruling the officials who ejected Abreu from Game 5 and overturning the suspension are probably slim to none.

The Astros needed to win Game 6 to avoid potentially losing Abreu in Game 7, but they lost 9-2. Now they are almost certain to be at a disadvantage in their biggest game of the season, playing without their second-best player for an offense they insist he did not commit. Even if they win, they could be without Abreu for Game 1 of the World Series if his suspension is upheld.

A number of people at the Astros, who spoke on the condition of anonymity while Abreu awaits the hearing, are angry at the way the matter has developed.

For starters, they found the idea that Abreu intentionally threw at Garcia in Game 5 ridiculous. The Astros were then down two runs in the eighth inning, with none out and a runner already on base. Jose Altuve was scheduled to bat third for the Astros in the ninth. The game, as Altuve set out to prove with a go-ahead three-run homer, was still within reach.

Abreu’s ejection from a postseason game and subsequent suspension isn’t the only reason the Astros are upset. Many players believed that Garcia should also have received a suspension for his contact with Astros catcher Martin Maldonado and for acting, in the words of crew chief James Hoey, as the “aggressor” in an incident that emptied benches and bullpens, but he did not. It leads to an outright quarrel.

However, the league generally acts according to precedent in such matters, only suspending a position player if he commits a truly violent act, such as throwing a punch. An example occurred on May 14 in Denver, when Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper attacked the Rockies’ dugout and pushed catcher Elias Diaz, triggering a bench-clearing event similar to what happened in Game 5. Like Garcia, Harper was fined but not suspended.

Some in the Astros suspect the league also shows favoritism toward the Rangers because their general manager, Chris Young, worked for the league from May 2018 to December 2020. Young, a former major league player, has risen to senior vice president, replacing Joe Torre as the official who decided on suspensions and fines for on-field matters, such as intentionally hitting batters.

The league declined to comment. Young did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The kind of blatant favoritism the Astros are suggesting seems highly unlikely. However, some in the organization still believe their club was unfairly singled out by the league for stealing electronic signs in 2019 when other teams were involved in similar misconduct. The Red Sox were the only other team penalized for lesser infractions. No team has been accused of using a system as elaborate as the Astros’.

Old resentments die hard, but the potential loss of Abreu from at least Game 7 of the ALCS opens new wounds. The situation is almost unprecedented. When the league imposed a three-game suspension on Dodgers shortstop Jay Howell for the presence of pine tar on his glove during the 1988 NLCS, the late commissioner A.J. Bartlett Giamatti said the Reds will only miss Games 4, 5 and 6.

“I don’t want to see a championship ultimately decided for the fans and my teammates – if the LCS goes to seven games – by one man’s mistake,” Giamatti said in a written statement. “Therefore, Mr. Howell will be eligible to participate in Game 7.” (The Dodgers won seven games and did not use Howell at the playoff spot.)

The rule adopted in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement created the current landscape. Prior to the CBA, a postseason discipline hearing was required to be held within 14 days of an appeal. But the players and owners agreed to the change after an appeal Chase Utley suspended for two games That Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada broke his leg with a hard slide in the 2015 NLCS was not resolved until the following March.

Since 2017, a postseason accident hearing must be held within 48 hours. Unlike Yuli Gurriel’s five-game suspension for making a racist gesture at Yu Darvish during the 2017 World Series, which was served at the start of the 2018 regular season, Abreu’s suspension will take effect immediately. His violation is considered a field issue. It wasn’t Gurriel.

The uncertainty surrounding Abreu influenced Astros manager Dusty Baker’s decision-making in Game 6. Baker used Abreu in the eighth inning, with the Astros trailing 4-2. Abreu allowed a run, but Baker considered sending him out for the second inning, knowing his reliever might miss Game 7. Instead, Baker hedged, wanting to make sure Abreu would be available if he wasn’t stopped in some way.

“You wish you had a resolution,” Baker said.

Without one, Baker turned to lesser relievers, Rafael Montero and then Ryan Stanek, in the ninth. The two combined to allow five runs, four in a grand slam by Garcia, who struck out in each of his first four at-bats. Thus, the close match turned into a defeat.

Managers in Game 7 traditionally use an “all hands on deck” approach with their pitchers, and that will be especially the case for the Astros without Abreu. Almost all of the pitchers are expected to be available, including Justin Verlander, 40, who could exit the bullpen on two days’ rest after throwing 82 pitches in Game 5.

This series would be far less likely to end bitterly if the referees simply warned both clubs rather than sending off Abreu. If the CBA still allows room for a suspended player in the postseason to delay his appeal. If the penalty can be pushed forward to the next regular season.

but not. We have unwanted drama instead.

(Brian Abreu Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)