The Nationals lost. This was seen as karma.
IIRC Astro players also made anti-Trump comments. When they won the series, liberals cheered the Astros.
Am I remembering this correctly?
The players on that team need to get payback in the form of round red bruises on their backs and legs.
No. Some players did not go to the White House (Correa, Beltran and bench coach Alex Cora - all Puerto Ricans), but they did not voice anti-Trump sentiment publicly (Cora and Beltran may have).
There is more to this than the punishments, IMO. I am a long time Astros fan in the Houston area and I feel they have disgraced their fans. The stain of ignominy is worse than some fine or suspension. I doubt I will be watching much baseball going forward. Maybe MLB is more worried that the Astros franchise could be a lost cause after this?
There were more cheers than boos. We had that discussion at the time.