Houston Astros will visit the White House

Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports that the White House has invited the Houston Astros to visit president Trump later this year and that the Astros will make the trip. It may be as early as spring training, actually, as the Astros do not visit Baltimore until the last series of the season and do not play the Nationals in interleague play this year. This would not have been a story at all in years past, but since Donald Trump took office a number of athletes, such as the Yankees' CC Sabathia, and one professional championship team — The Golden State Warriors — have either declined Trump's invitation (Trump said they were "disinvited," but did so after they said they would not come) or said they would not go if the occasion presented itself.