Carlos Correa wanted to talk. He had seen what the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger had said on Friday. About how the Astros stole the 2017 World Series from the Dodgers. About how José Altuve stole the American League MVP Award in ’17 from the Yankees’ Aaron Judge. About how the Astros have been “cheating for three years.”



Correa had been the most remorseful and eloquent of the Astros’ players when the team spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday. He was more passionate and forceful on Saturday morning in an interview that later aired on MLB Network, defending the legitimacy of the Astros’ only World Series title and, in particular, defending the legitimacy of Altuve.



Here is a partial transcript of the interview, edited slightly for length and clarity.



Correa: Well, usually I don’t have problems when people talk about 2017 and about what happened that year because, honestly, we were wrong. Everything that...