Houston Astros thrust, Lance McCullers Jr.
McCullers, who says he became a harassment target of baseball fans after he allowed seven races during a first round of 10 races, said reporters after the game that people are sending threats to him about his performance, with some implying that they would seek to harm their two young daughters.
“I understand that people are very passionate and people love stars and love sports, but threatening to find my children and kill them it’s a little difficult to deal with just as a father, I think,” McCullers said.
McCullers, 31, had recently returned to the field for his second start of the main league after losing the last two seasons of the MLB to recover from injuries to the throwing arm.
Daikin Park’s 13 to 9 defeat in Houston was his second MLB game and the first 2025 home game, marking his return after the latest release in 2022 World Series game.
“There have been many, many threats over the years aimed at me, especially,” McCullers said. “But I think bringing children to the equation – threatening to find them, or the next time they see us in public, they will stab my children to death, things like that – are difficult to hear as a father.”
At a post -game news conference on Saturday night, Astros manager Joe Espada expressed his frustration with death threats, saying he was “really upset” to listen to them.
“It’s very unfortunate to have to deal with it,” said Sword. “After all, he did to this city, for this team, the fact that we have to talk about it in my office – I also have children, and that really makes me crazy that we have to deal with it. Very sad. Very, very sad.”
Sword added that McCullers had not released two and a half years ago, and that fans should remember that he may need some time to adjust.
“Come on, we are better than that,” he said. “We are better than that.”