It's official: After a 2012 season that will be their 51st as a member of the National League, the Houston Astros will symbolically pack up and join the American League in 2013. The long-rumored move was announced by commissioner Bud Selig in Milwaukee on Thursday as the owners unanimously approved the sale of the Astros to Jim Crane.
In exchange for agreeing to switch circuits, Crane (below) will receive a break of about $70 million ? half from MLB and half from previous owner Drayton McLane ? from his $680 million purchase price. Not a bad coupon if you can get it.
This is obviously big news. It's the first case of a team switching leagues since the Milwaukee Brewers jumped to the NL in 1998 and it's going to leave a big impact. For the first time since 1997, both leagues will contain the same amount of teams ? 15 ? a distribution that will require interleague play throughout the entire season. The six-team NL Central and equally ridiculous four-team AL West will be no more; the Astros' Texas two-step into the Rangers' division will leave five teams across each of the six divisions.
Unlike the Brewers' move into the Milwaukee Braves' old league, Houston has no history as an American League city. So there is likely to be plenty of opposition from the fan base, criticism that has been loudly voiced by former Astro Lance Berkman. They'll have to get used to a lot of things ? from shopping for a DH to getting used to more late start times against the Angels, A's and Mariners ? and any and all complaining can be directed toward McLane. His decision to make a nice profit on his $117 million purchase of the team in 1992 made the team most vulnerable to a change. It was a lot easier to push around an owner (Crane) wanting in on the exclusive club than convincing one of the comfortably ensconced ownership groups (Milwaukee and Arizona would have made sense) to move.
For baseball fans without a Wandy in the race, it'll take some time to get used to the idea of interleague play from the beginning to the end of the season. Ditto for a second wild-card team that would lead to a one-game playoff round, an imminent move that Selig also announced on Thursday.
But it'll also be interesting to see how the NL clubs stock their rosters for that schedule dynamic. Something tells me that we'll be seeing more guys like Jason Giambi and Jim Thome finding homes on National League rosters.
What do you think? Does the Astros' move to the American League make sense?
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