Houston Astros receive pizzas as part of tradition: "Special thanks to Atlanta Braves for sending pizza to the Astros"
World Series Winners The Houston Astros' front office received a treat in the form of stacks of pizzas. It was sent by the Atlanta Braves, who defeated them in the World Series last year. It's become a baseball tradition for previous World Series champions to send pizza to the team that wins the championship the following year.
This tradition began in 2014 when the Boston Red Sox sent pizzas to the San Francisco Giants. The Giants were gracious enough to continue it in 2015, with the Kansas City Royals benefiting from their generosity. The Royals passed it to the Cubs, who then sent it to the Astros, and so on.
Huge thank you to the @Cubs for continuing the #WorldSeries tradition of sending our front office a bunch of pizza! 🙌 https://t.co/0sMKHVZ9wX
Huge thank you to the @Cubs for continuing the #WorldSeries tradition of sending our front office a bunch of pizza! -@astros, Twitter
This is the second time that the Houston Astros have received pizzas from a National League team. In 2017, when they won the title, it was the Chicago Cubs who treated them with delicious pies. What makes this tradition even more interesting is that the champions are treated to pizzas from local restaurants. Previous winners pick a place from the current winners' home city to add a local touch and also boost the local economy.
This year, the Atalanta Braves chose Frank's Pizza to deliver the food to the World Series champions. Their website reads:
“We pride ourselves in offering hand-tossed pizzas made with the freshest ingredients including daily, made-from-scratch dough and sauce,”.
Making that pizza in honor of their city champions must have given them a lot of pride.
Houston Astros make pizza tradition history
The Houston Astros also became the second team to have received and delivered a pizza from their counterparts. If we don't consider the original trendsetters, the Boston Red Sox, then that leaves the Astros as the only team to have done so.
This tradition has also led to some interesting incidents. In 2021, the Los Angeles Dodgers sent pizzas to the Atlanta Braves to celebrate their win. But it must have been a tough one to digest as the Braves were the team that defeated the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
The major question remains what happens to this tradition if a team defends its title. That can only be found out if the Astros defend their title in 2023.