Houston Astros to the American League???

[ColonelSteve]

MLB talks switching National League team to American League, sources say - ESPN

 

[TexasMan]

That would be stupid. Why not the Brewers again?

 

[DJax4Heisman]

heard it might the D-Backs and the astros would move over to replace them in the NL West.

 

[huskers1217]

The reasons given for the Astros move is...

NL Central has six teams and the AL West has 4, so it would even those divisions to 5

This gives it a natural rivarly (Rangers v Astros)

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle likes the move because the Astros will never sustain enough winning to becomes rivals with the Cubs or Cards.

but what would be a better rivarly? (astros/rangers or reds/indians)?

 

[TexasMan]

The reasons given for the Astros move is...

NL Central has six teams and the AL West has 4, so it would even those divisions to 5

This gives it a natural rivarly (Rangers v Astros)

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle likes the move because the Astros will never sustain enough winning to becomes rivals with the Cubs or Cards.

but what would be a better rivarly? (astros/rangers or reds/indians)?

I thought the point of doing this was to eliminate divisions and pick the 5 best teams to go to the playoffs.

 

[TexasMan]

Also, the Astros have more rivals than just within the division (Braves, Dodgers)

 

[Mozart'sGhost]

MLB talks switching National League team to American League, sources say - ESPN

I heard they might drop down to Double A. The only team they can beat is the Giants

 

[UVA_Guy81]

The reasons given for the Astros move is...

NL Central has six teams and the AL West has 4, so it would even those divisions to 5

This gives it a natural rivarly (Rangers v Astros)

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle likes the move because the Astros will never sustain enough winning to becomes rivals with the Cubs or Cards.

but what would be a better rivarly? (astros/rangers or reds/indians)?

Brewers-Twins?

 

[Beggs]

i would prefer they add a team. this would eliminate a year round interleague scenario

 

[guitarmy21b]

The Rangers/Astros will never be a rivalry no matter how bad they try to manufacture one. We win the "silver boot" every year and nobody cares.

 

[Ginger]

The Rangers/Astros will never be a rivalry no matter how bad they try to manufacture one. We win the "silver boot" every year and nobody cares.

If they were in the division people would care. The biggest advantage the Yanks, and Sox have over everybody else is that they aren't very far away from each other. Same with most of the other AL East teams.

That means less travel miles on the players and staff. Fans can literally go to any game they want to so attendance is always nice. They play more games within their time zone so more people can watch on TV.

I personally would love to see the Astros in the Rangers division. 1. It gets the Stros out of the Cards division and 2. It would give the Rangers more games at a normal time. Personally, I would move the Rays to OKC or North Dallas and radically realign the divisions. Astros, Rangers, Rays, KC and maybe the Brewers all in 1 division. Also, I think I'd either get rid of the DH or have both leagues use it.

 

[herky]

If they were in the division people would care. The biggest advantage the Yanks, and Sox have over everybody else is that they aren't very far away from each other. Same with most of the other AL East teams.

That means less travel miles on the players and staff. Fans can literally go to any game they want to so attendance is always nice. They play more games within their time zone so more people can watch on TV.

I personally would love to see the Astros in the Rangers division. 1. It gets the Stros out of the Cards division and 2. It would give the Rangers more games at a normal time. Personally, I would move the Rays to OKC or North Dallas and radically realign the divisions. Astros, Rangers, Rays, KC and maybe the Brewers all in 1 division. Also, I think I'd either get rid of the DH or have both leagues use it.

Too bad that the players union would never allow that to happen.

 

[huskers1217]

personally, I would move the Rays to Tampa

 

[Tacoma_canuck]

It was the easiest solution for MLB( move a team from the 6 team NL central to the 4 team AL west) and yes they are trying to manufacture a regional rivalry with the Rangers. It won't work unless the Astros can become competitive but you can't tell Bud that. People talk about the Yankees/Sox. The reason that rivalry exists has little to do with proximity. It's because they've fostered it over several decades and they have fought for the best record for years. Back when the Blue Jays and Orioles or the Tigers before that in the 80's were competing, the Yanks/Sox rivalry was barely mentioned because the Yanks weren't competitive in the division.
In the NBA, the Celtics/Knicks rivalry all but disappeared when the Knicks were so awful the last few years and it started to come back only because the Knicks became relevant again. The Celtics/Lakers rivalry is bigger because of winning.
The Bruins/Rangers hasn't been much for several years.

Back to this re-alignment, they have to do it with either Houston, Colorado or Arizona to keep the time zone/travel concerns to a minimum. If you do it with the last 2 then you have to shake up 3 divisions instead of 2.
Finally, the last thing we need is expansion. A) It would require 2 teams to keep it even B) We then have 2 divisions with 6 teams C) There is no city in the West that is even close to viable (except maybe Vancouver but MLB doesn't want another Canadian team) and D) The last thing the league needs is to water it down more and have a couple more bottom feeders in the mix