Red Sox fans thought Luis Garcia and the Houston Astros were cheating in Game 6, gifting him increased fastball velocity.
As several MLB analysts pointed out during Game 6, Garcia’s average fastball velocity is around 93.3 MPH. On Friday night, that number increased to 97.8 MPH.
Is Garcia using some sort of sticky stuff? If you’re from Boston, you can believe that all you want. Odds are, however, the radar gun was off.
Either that, or we could just believe that Garcia waited until the biggest appearance of his young career to have his best night.
Red Sox fans, however, assumed Garcia’s increased velo was not of the legal variety.
It’s unfortunate that the Astros’ past transgressions are impacting their young, present talent. Garcia was not an impact player during Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Yet, he’s still being judged for their wrongdoings.
Astros: Luis Garcia gives Houston outing of a lifetime
“Everybody was really happy because I did the job that they needed from me tonight,” Garcia said. “And as far as being in the World Series, just really excited to be part of my first World Series. It’s like a dream come true really.”
As for the Red Sox, Boston far exceeded their expectations in 2021. It’s easy to lose track of that with Boston just two wins away from the AL pennant, but Red Sox fans shouldn’t let a tough end to their season spoil an otherwise successful campaign.