Major League Baseball

Astros and Dodgers face off in not-so-friendly reunion in Los Angeles

Published Aug. 4, 2021 5:31 p.m. ET

By Ben Verlander
FOX Sports MLB Analyst

It was loud. It was obnoxious. It was everything I expected and more.

On Tuesday, for the first time since the sign stealing allegations came out against the Houston Astros following the 2017 season — when the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series — the 'Stros were back in Los Angeles.

I pulled up to Dodger Stadium (after sitting in hours of traffic) just a few minutes before the first pitch.

Thunderous boos and "cheater!" chants were raining down in the parking lot and inside the stadium well before the first pitch was even thrown.

This was not your normal fan banter.

It was loud. It was vindictive. In some ways, it was downright comical.

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Just as you would draw it up, Jose Altuve led off the game for the Astros.

When he was announced, the boos were louder than any I had heard in my entire life. And not only that, but also they continued for his entire at-bat.

Even after Altuve missed a leadoff home run that landed just foul on the first pitch, the booing carried on.

I made my way to my seat, and the concourse was filled with signs about the Astros, apparel about cheaters and grown men dressed up as trash cans.

Truly a sight to see.

Within seconds of my arrival at my seat, a trash can was thrown on the field, and the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

The best way to describe this experience was that it was less of a baseball game and more of a shame party.

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As the game went on and trash cans continued to be thrown, things on the field weren't going very well for the Dodgers.

Inning after inning, hope would build up, and nothing would come from it. Gradually, the largest crowd in Major League Baseball this season, with more than 52,000 fans in attendance, went from being the loudest crowd of the year to a shell of that.

The air in the stadium was deflated as quickly as all of the trash cans that were thrown onto the field.

Things got even worse in the stands as the game went on and Dodgers fans became more and more frustrated and more and more intoxicated by the inning.

When Lance McCullers Jr. came out of the game after 6.2 brilliant innings of work, I stood at my seat and applauded the performance I had just watched.

The Dodgers fan across the aisle from me stood up and yelled "F--- the Astros! And f--- you!" directly at me.

To which I responded, "Sir, he pitched fantastic. Perhaps check out the scoreboard."

"I don’t care about the scoreboard!" he fired back. "F--- the Astros! They suck!"

That gentleman was then escorted out of the ballpark by the nearby police officers as he continued yelling and getting more aggressive.

My takeaway from the night actually came from that guy: "I don’t care about the scoreboard! F--- the Astros."

That is what it felt like throughout the stadium. Dodgers fans cared more about yelling at the other team than they did about winning.

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Accordingly, the performance on the field was less than stellar, as the Dodgers fell to the Astros 3-0.

Now, both of these teams are really good. In fact, both of these teams are really great.

This series in L.A. could very well be a World Series preview. On Wednesday, the two teams do it all over again, with the second game even more special for the Dodgers, as Max Scherzer makes his debut for the team after being traded from the Washington Nationals.

What a series for him to start his Dodgers career.

Two of the best teams in the league going toe-to-toe on the field while fans in the stands are actually going toe-to-toe.

It will be chaos again tonight at Dodger Stadium.

If you plan on going, be careful — I mean it.

Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the "Flippin' Bats" podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @Verly32.