Senior sportswriter Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated joined 18 chapter members and guests last week to recount how he became fascinated by the worst team in baseball in 2014 and famously predicted that that team – the Houston Astros – would go on to win the 2017 World Series.
Author of “Astroball: The New Way to Win It All,” Reiter shared with the group how he had been trying for years to embed with a major league front office only to be denied time and time again. But after three consecutive 100-plus loss seasons, the Astros appeared to be in need of positive coverage, and Reiter saw an opportunity. Making no promises and accepting no conditions from the Astros, Reiter was invited to be in the room when the Astros made their No. 1 draft selection in 2014. This unprecedented access to the Astros front office and staff led to the June 30, 2014, cover story with rookie outfield George Springer sporting the throw-back Astros uniforms.
Of course, three-and-a-half years later, the Astros did become the 2017 World Series Champs. His book, “Astroball,” recounts how the Astros built on the advanced analytics pioneered by the Oakland Athletics and incorporated insights from scouts to make smarter decisions about draft picks and player projections.
Reiter read from the preface of his book and described how his article – detailing the Astros’ plan to go from worst to first – captured his editor’s imagination and unexpectedly landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He described how his editor called him and asked, how soon do you think the Astros are expecting to win again? 2020? 2019? Reiter said he thought a moment and quickly projected the few years it might take the young core of Altuve, Correa and Springer to mature, and settled on 2017. And, just like that, Reiter’s article that examined just what the Astros were up to led to a cover story with the bold prediction.
He also shared how nervous he was in 2015 when the Astros nearly made a run in beating his prediction by two years, until the Kansas City Royals made a late-inning comeback in Game 4 of the American League Division Series on their way to their first World Series title in years.
Reiter also shared how he isn’t surprised that several important members of the Astros front office are leaving and joining other ballclubs – it’s the price of success, he said. He also said he believes the Astros should remain competitive in coming years, especially with strong talent in the farm system. However, he also noted that Astros’ success in recent years means that they don’t have high draft picks any more, so the front office may need to account for that with different strategies.
Many thanks to Reiter for joining us for our monthly meeting. The following day, he traveled to San Marcos and visited journalism classes at Texas State University. He also participated in a Common Experience event to tie to the theme of innovation. A link to the video recording of that event can be found by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/sjmctxst/videos/350074849082212/
The next monthly meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at Romano’s Macaroni Grill Italian Restaurant (9828 Great Hills Trail at the Arboretum in northwest Austin). A request for RSVPs will be sent out in early December.
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