Astros can't erase stain of 2017, but World Series champs know the score: 'We've truly earned this'

HOUSTON - It is a weight that does not go away, and deep down, the Houston Astros believe it never will.

In the three years since it was revealed the Houston Astros' 2017 World Series championship was boosted by an electronic sign-stealing scandal, the club has figuratively, and sometimes literally, not looked up.

Nothing can wash it away – but success can be a deodorant.

Nothing can undo the banging trash cans, the illicit TV monitor, the computer programs that helped intercept opponents' pitches and fed them to Astros hitters – but four World Series appearances in six years can justify the grander achievements of their stars.

And nothing can restore all the luster to the gold banner hanging above left center field field at Minute Maid Park that commemorates the 2017 World Series champions.

But putting a second one aside it will at least make the bumpy road back from ignominy well worth it.

Saturday night, the Houston Astros won the second championship in club history, their 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies producing a 4-2 World Series conquest that will not erase the stain attached to 2017.

It won't quiet the boos in opposing ballparks, nor the often vicious backlash via social media or beer-fueled stadium rants. Instead, the Astros have had to find their joy internally, both within their clubhouse and the confines of Minute Maid Park, where, 42,958 crammed in Saturday night to see Yordan Alvarez hit a Series-winning shot 450 feet. To see veteran Jose Altuve and rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña leap into each others' arms, two generations of Astros greats celebrating a singular moment.

WORLD SERIES CHAMPS: Astros finish off Phillies in Game 6

BEHIND THE SCENES: A night three decades in the making: Dusty Baker, World Series champ

NEWSLETTER: Get the latest sports news straight to your inbox

And to see reams of orange confetti fall from the ceiling, a team finally able to celebrate a crowning achievement with the community that stridently defends them.

Houston vs. the world? Well, if the world never comes around, the Astros understand.

"I don’t know what it does to change peoples’ opinions," says Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers in a boozy clubhouse that counts the right-hander among a quintet of 2017 holdovers. "We put ourselves in a bad spot and all we were able to do is claw our way out by winning. And we’ve done that, year after year now.

"And I can’t tell people how to feel, or what to think about us. Just know that this locker room of guys has done it the right way. We’ve truly earned this.

"And we’re the World Series champions."

It has been a wild ride, these years since a young and brash club captured Game 7 of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Core players graduated to other clubs. Veteran players were interchanged.

And then there was the scandal. The 2019 revelations by The Athletic that Houston deployed an illicit and illegal means of stealing signs angered rivals, disgusted fans, pulled the Astros off the sports pages and onto CNN, the black hats of baseball.

It was an immediate taint to the lone title in franchise history. And it left little wiggle room for what was next.

"It was difficult at times. It was upsetting to everybody," says owner Jim Crane, who fired general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch in the wake of the scandal. "We got beat up over it and rightfully so. I told the guys, this is going to be with us for a while. The only way we can fix this is to beat everybody.

"I don’t think it’s ever fixed. You can’t undo history. You just try to put your best foot forward and hope it never happens again."

Consider the winning part of it fixed, as the Astros never stopped.

They've advanced to six straight AL Championship Series, and made four of the last six World Series. This year, they won 106 games, romped undefeated through the AL division and championship series, all while integrating new heroes.

Alvarez will likely finish in the top three of AL MVP voting, and he showed with his titanic go-ahead home run in the sixth inning that he can be shut down for nearly three full playoff series, yet still turn it around with one swing of the bat.

And then there is Peña, who was presumed to be a low-rent replacement for free agent and former franchise icon Carlos Correa. Peña merely turned out to be their steadiest and most clutch player in this postseason, putting a lock on World Series MVP honors with two of the three hits in Game 6 off otherwise untouchable Phillies starter Zack Wheeler.

"I can’t believe how well he did. He friggin' won it for us," says center fielder Chas McCormick. "That knock up the middle, getting the boys going – he deserves that MVP."

McCormick and Peña and Alvarez are among a growing group you could call the Other Guys – those not around for 2017, but subjected to the boos and bitterness of opposing fans, as if they had anything to do with the sign stealing.

It was a tribute to the Astros that they, at least publicly, never splintered into an Us and Them, that as the post-'17 group swelled but the hate did not subside, they remained cohesive and, in fact, played even better as the years went on.

"It took every single person in this clubhouse to get the job done," says third baseman Alex Bregman, who along with Altuve were the de facto public faces of the sign-stealing scandal. "The only thing I’m thinking about right now is how proud I am to be a part of this organization."

Others had more on their minds.

"Nobody can say (expletive) now," says closer Ryan Pressly, who joined the Astros in 2018 and was part of a bullpen that posted a best-ever World Series ERA of 0.81. "We’re professionals. And people say some vulgar things to you – talking a lot of mess about your family, your kids. And they just let it brush off their shoulders. We get it from all ends, every stadium we go to, and for them to just blow it off is incredible.

"People are going to say what they want to say. We don’t really give a (expletive) what they say. We won. We’re the best. Ain’t nothing they can say about it now."

He's not wrong.

Perhaps, as McCullers intimated, there's no flipping the scornful. Yet the schadenfreude the Astros' avowed enemies awaited won't come for a while. A core of a half-dozen excellent starting pitchers, led by Game 6 winner Framber Valdez, will keep that unit strong even if likely Cy Young winner Justin Verlander departs.

Bregman remains the heart of the lineup and clubhouse; he is signed through 2024, Alvarez through 2028.

And then there is Peña.

The charismatic and excitable rookie from Providence shared long hugs with father Geronimo – a former big leaguer –and mother Cecilia, part of a group of roughly 25 in from Rhode Island and elsewhere for Game 6. In a postgame press briefing, he used the term "shoutout" a half-dozen times, so grateful he was to manager Dusty Baker, his teammates, Altuve, his Dominican people.

The Astros may be more thankful.

"The ceiling – I don’t know where the ceiling is for that kid," says general manager James Click. "To come through like he did, on this stage, with his experience, it’s just not believable."

More believable: The Astros establishing themselves as a dynasty. The game's past 30 years have seen clubs adept at winning divisions, even pennants, but not championships.

The 1990s Braves won 14 division titles and one World Series. The current Dodgers: 10 straight playoff berths, one championship. Even the emerging Atlanta Braves have consecutive NL East titles, and one World Series.

The Astros got that second ring. And this one should gleam forever, even if the road receptions remain unfriendly.

"It is distracting to me at times, but I try to put it behind me," says Crane. "We won tonight. They’ll make their own decisions. But we got the trophy."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Astros can't erase stain of '17, but World Series champs have relief