Astros present golden opportunity for their haters to troll them in 2020

The Houston Astros unintentionally subjected themselves to trolling by their haters.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the United States, the Houston Astros were bracing to feel the wrath of haters due to their role in illegally stealing signs in the 2017 season. But with new cases of COVID-19 spiking across the nation, fans are highly unlikely to be allowed to attend games, meaning the Astros can breathe a sigh of relief.

But, they unintentionally got caught in the crosshairs of their detractors. On Tuesday, the Astros announced fans can have a cardboard cutout of themselves in one of the outfield seats at Minute Maid Park for the price of a $100 donation to the Astros Foundation.

Not even a full day since the announcement and Houston is already getting trolled mercilessly by their haters. For example, Twitter user @FixOurPowerPlay paid the fee to have Washington Nationals infielder Howie Kendrick sit in the seats to troll the Astros.

Even with the donation, the Astros can return it.

While the photo does meet the requirement of a smiling individual, this person will find out that their $100 will be returned to their bank account.

According to the Astros’ guidelines, the image or likeness of any MLB player is prohibited from being used. For those looking to send photos of themselves in their non-Astros uniforms will also be disqualified. Only photos of smiling Astros fans in Astros gear is allowed. That’s it.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity for Houston’s detractors to strike since fans can only boo them from home in 2020. Earlier this year, MLB investigated and determined that the Astros stole signs via a camera placed in center field of Minute Maid Park during the 2017 campaign. To make matters worse, that was the season the Astros won their first-ever World Series title.

Even though this plan won’t work, we guarantee the Astros are going through a huge log of photos from opposing fans. That alone could be worth it for Houston’s detractors.