Yankees: Adam Ottavino Thinks Coronavirus is ‘Saving’ the Astros

Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino had some critical remarks about the Astros.

Adam Ottavino enjoyed an incredible debut campaign with the New York Yankees, but his regular season heroics didn’t translate to the playoffs.

The right-hander had a career year, logging a 1.90 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 73 games (66.1 innings) with 88 strikeouts and two saves. He was a savior given Dellin Betances’ absence due to his various ailments, helping anchor the bullpen with Aroldis Chapman and Zack Britton.

Then came the Houston Astros in the ALCS. They tagged Ottavino in his five appearances, in which he surrendered four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk — good for an 11.57 ERA and 3.00 WHIP. Shortly after that, the Astros cheating scandal broke, and while Houston caught a ton of vitriol left and right, Ottavino simply doesn’t think it’s enough.

He thinks COVID-19 is saving them from more hate.

He’s not necessarily wrong. The MLB hiatus has left fans focused on when the season will start back up again, specifically in regards to the stalemate between the owners and players that has overtaken headlines in the sports world.

Ottavino misses the regularly scheduled Astros hating, and quite frankly, all Yankees fans do as well.

“I don’t think people are going to forget it, but I think it’s helping them because that was the story of spring training up until the virus,” Ottavino told Jensen Karp on ‘The No-Sports Report’ podcast. “That was all day, every day. It was already to the point where it was exhausting. And, I think that once the season started, they were going to be in for a lot of hatred from fans around the country.”

Not only that, but the 34-year-old makes a good point in reminding everyone that the Astros will further get off the hook with no fans in the stands for the 2020 season, whenever it resumes. Who is going to boo them into oblivion every time they’re on the road?!

We guess we’ll just have to keep reminding baseball fans day in and day out of the Astros’ infractions for the next year and a half in preparation for the 2021 season when we’re ready to get back to our seats at the ballgame.