Houston Astros to American League West

[dbadefense1990]

A few years from now, this move won't matter to anyone in Houston. With constant interleague play and the incorporation of the DH into the National Conference, er, League...it'll all be roughly the same.

Every spontaneous person's worst nightmare: a unification of blandness, dull and the expected. It's already happened in the NFL, and baseball's not far behind.

Hate it.

[DEAD!]

50 years of baseball in Houston has just been pissed on. Thanks Bud for :censored:ing over some bait team for your precious Brewers.

... and what a glorious history it was.

A name change

A surface named in their honour

Rainbow uniforms

One World Series appearance

A ballpark that initially was named after one of the most infamous corporate disasters in American history,which has a hill and flagpole at centre field.

[Gothamite]

True, I guess if I was facing that, I'd prefer bizarre conspiracy theories as well.

[TFoA]

50 years of baseball in Houston has just been pissed on. Thanks Bud for :censored:ing over some bait team for your precious Brewers.

... and what a glorious history it was.

A name change

A surface named in their honour

Rainbow uniforms

One World Series appearance

A ballpark that initially was named after one of the most infamous corporate disasters in American history,which has a hill and flagpole at centre field.

Why is Bud Selig ruining basebaw?! :cursing:

[bosrs1]

I'd personally like to see the mythical lines between the AL and NL obliterated - not the leagues themselves, but with more extensive interleague play. Only in baseball has a merger of leagues occurred without them truly integrating, and it has always seemed unnecessary segregation to me.

See, I like the distinction. I like having slightly different styles of play.

For once we agree on something. I too love the distinction between the leagues. It's part of what makes baseball, baseball. The differing styles of play is also a nice distinction that they hopefully don't destroy during this realignment. No DH in the NL.

As for Brewers and their fans, I'm sure they're so over being in the AL that they'll take down all their AL related championship regalia from the ballpark some time soon...

See, I was with you when you were agreeing with me, but then you have to ruin it.

Not sure what you mean by that last line.

I was being facetious implying that if Milwaukee is such an NL town they won't mind taking down their AL championships since they obviously loathe the AL so much.

[Gothamite]

One doesn't follow the other - they don't have to loathe the AL to enjoy being in the NL. And I'm not aware that anyone's suggested that they do.

[McCall]

Houston's the worst team in baseball. How the hell does this help the Brewers win?

[DEAD!]

I was being facetious implying that if Milwaukee is such an NL town they won't mind taking down their AL championships since they obviously loathe the AL so much.

Milwaukee does have an identity crisis. AL city, NL city, AL city, NL city... I fully expect them to be an AL city again in my lifetime

[The_Admiral]

Personally, I'd have moved the Colorado Rockies to the AL West and the Houston Astros to the NL West.

With just a pair of franchises in Texas, I'd opt for maintaining one in each league and preserving the possibility of a Rangers-Astros World Series some day.

If you have to do this, this is the best way. Let designated hitters roam free in Denver.

[Shizznick]

50 years of baseball in Houston has just been pissed on. Thanks Bud for :censored:ing over some bait team for your precious Brewers.

... and what a glorious history it was.

A name change

A surface named in their honour

Rainbow uniforms

One World Series appearance

A ballpark that initially was named after one of the most infamous corporate disasters in American history,which has a hill and flagpole at centre field.

16th inning, Game 6, 1986 NLCS.

[bosrs1]

One doesn't follow the other - they don't have to loathe the AL to enjoy being in the NL. And I'm not aware that anyone's suggested that they do.

Nevermind, the humor was lost when you didn't get it.

[missouri tigers]

I would think Colorado would be the perfect candidate, but this works.

As for year-round interleague play, I'm all for it!

But, wasn't the whole point of this realignment to make each division have an even 5 teams???

Sending the Rockies to the AL West wouldn't solve that problem without having to realign another team to take the place of Colorado in the NL West (Probably either Milwaukee/Houston)

That being said, The only reasonable choice to send to the AL West was Houston for several reasons:

-It is the farthest west NL Central team.

-It allows only 1 team to move divisions.

-The MLB likely wouldn't force the Cardinals or Cubs to change divisions especially not Leagues.

-Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are farther east than Houston.

-It sets up a Texas rivalry with the Rangers(Probably the least important, and not that big of a consideration for this move)

[McCall]

I would think Colorado would be the perfect candidate, but this works.

As for year-round interleague play, I'm all for it!

But, wasn't the whole point of this realignment to make each division have an even 5 teams???

Sending the Rockies to the AL West wouldn't solve that problem without having to realign another team to take the place of Colorado in the NL West (Probably either Milwaukee/Houston)

That being said, The only reasonable choice to send to the AL West was Houston for several reasons:

-It is the farthest west NL Central team.

-It allows only 1 team to move divisions.

-The MLB likely wouldn't force the Cardinals or Cubs to change divisions especially not Leagues.

-Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are farther east than Houston.

-It sets up a Texas rivalry with the Rangers(Probably the least important, and not that big of a consideration for this move)

We were proposing Colorado or Arizona to the AL West, Houston to the NL West. It balances the divisions and actually balances out both Wests: 3 pacific coast teams, 1 "mountain" team and 1 Texas team.

[Mac the Knife]

I'd personally like to have seen the Brewers returned to the American League, but MLB saw an easy opportunity with this change in ownership to impose the Astros going to the AL. It's logical enough (Astros-Rangers will be a nice divisional rivalry), and will be a better move than moving the Diamondbacks would've been from a revenue perspective. And ultimately it's all about money, and Brewers-Cubs + Astros-Rangers > Brewers-White Sox + Astros-Cardinals.

[DL Watt]

I would think Colorado would be the perfect candidate, but this works.

As for year-round interleague play, I'm all for it!

But, wasn't the whole point of this realignment to make each division have an even 5 teams???

Sending the Rockies to the AL West wouldn't solve that problem without having to realign another team to take the place of Colorado in the NL West (Probably either Milwaukee/Houston)

That being said, The only reasonable choice to send to the AL West was Houston for several reasons:

-It is the farthest west NL Central team.

-It allows only 1 team to move divisions.

-The MLB likely wouldn't force the Cardinals or Cubs to change divisions especially not Leagues.

-Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are farther east than Houston.

-It sets up a Texas rivalry with the Rangers(Probably the least important, and not that big of a consideration for this move)

We were proposing Colorado or Arizona to the AL West, Houston to the NL West. It balances the divisions and actually balances out both Wests: 3 pacific coast teams, 1 "mountain" team and 1 Texas team.

You cant just up and move a division champ though. That be said, Houston, geographically is a "central" team, and in the big scheme of things is being set up for failure moving to the AL. Hmmmm, lets move the worst team in the NL over to the AL so they can have zero shot what so ever of winning, makes sense right???

I do completley agree with the move of having 5 teams per division, even all across the board, but what happens when we see expansion in the next 5-7 years? The balance will once again be thrown off. This is why I was always a fan of an Eastern and Western Divsion.

[AnythingChicago]

Having the only 2 Texas teams in the same division pisses me off. Why not move Houston to the NL West and Arizona to the AL West?!

[bosrs1]

The alignment issue is one thing that is bad enough. But have we heard anything on the lame brained idea of bringing the DH to the NL? Initially there was some talk about it, but there hasn't been any recently. Did they realize it would be a mistake and was unnecessary?

[oddball]

I would think Colorado would be the perfect candidate, but this works.

As for year-round interleague play, I'm all for it!

But, wasn't the whole point of this realignment to make each division have an even 5 teams???

Sending the Rockies to the AL West wouldn't solve that problem without having to realign another team to take the place of Colorado in the NL West (Probably either Milwaukee/Houston)

That being said, The only reasonable choice to send to the AL West was Houston for several reasons:

-It is the farthest west NL Central team.

-It allows only 1 team to move divisions.

-The MLB likely wouldn't force the Cardinals or Cubs to change divisions especially not Leagues.

-Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are farther east than Houston.

-It sets up a Texas rivalry with the Rangers(Probably the least important, and not that big of a consideration for this move)

We were proposing Colorado or Arizona to the AL West, Houston to the NL West. It balances the divisions and actually balances out both Wests: 3 pacific coast teams, 1 "mountain" team and 1 Texas team.

You cant just up and move a division champ though. That be said, Houston, geographically is a "central" team, and in the big scheme of things is being set up for failure moving to the AL. Hmmmm, lets move the worst team in the NL over to the AL so they can have zero shot what so ever of winning, makes sense right???

I do completley agree with the move of having 5 teams per division, even all across the board, but what happens when we see expansion in the next 5-7 years? The balance will once again be thrown off. This is why I was always a fan of an Eastern and Western Divsion.

First of all, it's not like we're talking the Pirates whose last winning season was... 1992. The Astros were in the World Series a couple of years ago. Oh and all this talk about how tough the AL is, and yet in the past 10 years the AL has won only half of the World Series, and in the last five years the NL has won 3 and the last two. Oh and the dominant AL East has not represented the AL in the World Series the last two years. Moving Houston to the AL, is a logical move. Do I like it? I'm okay with it. I just hope for the love of God, that the DH never comes to the NL. There is nothing worse that watching the Red Sox or Yankees play a 6 hour game. I understand the DH won't be going anywhere, but it's horrible and really screws up the game. I'm not talking double switches, I'm talking if you play the field, then you should bat and be responsible for being an a-hole on the mound and throwing at batters heads. And there's nothing worse than seeing an old decrepit player feebly try and continue his career by being a DH.

[ninersdd]

The thing is that if they moved Zona or Colorado to the AL and Houston to the NL West, then you would have 3 coast teams, one Mountain, and one Texas team in each division, so the Western divisions would be symmetrical. Too bad they couldn't have done that.

Edit: Didn't see this get mentioned previously.

[Gothamite]

One doesn't follow the other - they don't have to loathe the AL to enjoy being in the NL. And I'm not aware that anyone's suggested that they do.

Nevermind, the humor was lost when you didn't get it.

That is humor.

I recognize that.