Astros to the AL?

[NonProfitCow]

HOUSTON - Major League Baseball sources confirm for FOX 26 Sports that commissioner Bud Selig has asked Houston businessman Jim Crane to agree to move the Houston Astros to the American League if he is approved as owner of the team.

 

MLB sources told FOX 26 the fact that Crane has yet to agree to the request has kept him from being approved as owner.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/sports/mlb/110907-moving-astros-to-american-league-important-for-crane%27s-bid-to-buy-team

[mookie]

I like it. The AL will be gaining a nice punching bag for a few years.

[sweetpeteman]

I like it. The AL will be gaining a nice punching bag for a few years.

 

 

But the Cubs will be losing one.

[justin23iu]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

[El Duderino]

Like it. Now just bring back the balanced schedule, shorten the season 10-12 games, and eliminate divisions.

[rocket]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

 

i'm for it.

[Rob]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

 

Year-round interleague play is bad enough on its own. But year-round interleague would stress the rules disparity between the AL and NL, and eventually force the NL to adopt the DH (as the MLBPA would never give up the DH in the AL, with all the money it brings in). That's the part I find really upsetting.

[Outshined_One]

If the Astros go to the AL, would they join the AL West?

 

Also, if we're assuming the Astros will be swapped for another team, rather than giving the AL and NL a 15/15 split, who would replace them? Maybe the Royals?

[TruffleShuffle]

But year-round interleague would stress the rules disparity between the AL and NL, and eventually force the NL to adopt the DH

 

would it? all it means is that you need one interleague series at all times. if you spread out the interleague play so that you don't have those two blocks where all the games but one are interleague, it could easily be done without adding any additional interleague games.

[Guest]

Definately in favor of dropping interleague altogether. (Not likely, but here's hoping.) There is no more "Dream matchups", nobody cares about the DBack .v. Tigers type matchups. I prefer the teams have more matchups with their own league then to have to play some meaningless interleague game. Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

Move the Astros (I prefer the Brewers, but whatever) to the AL, and drop interleague play.

[Guest]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

 

Year-round interleague play is bad enough on its own. But year-round interleague would stress the rules disparity between the AL and NL, and eventually force the NL to adopt the DH (as the MLBPA would never give up the DH in the AL, with all the money it brings in). That's the part I find really upsetting.

 

Well, the NL needs to adopt the DH or the AL needs to drop it, so if year round interleague pushes us towards that then it's a good thing. It's insanity that there's such a huge difference in rules between leagues that play for a title.

[bukie]

If the Astros go to the AL, would they join the AL West?

 

Also, if we're assuming the Astros will be swapped for another team, rather than giving the AL and NL a 15/15 split, who would replace them? Maybe the Royals?

The only reason they'd move the Astros to the AL would be to give a 15/15 split.

[bukie]

Definately in favor of dropping interleague altogether. (Not likely, but here's hoping.) There is no more "Dream matchups", nobody cares about the DBack .v. Tigers type matchups. I prefer the teams have more matchups with their own league then to have to play some meaningless interleague game. Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

Move the Astros (I prefer the Brewers, but whatever) to the AL, and drop interleague play.

That's impossible, unless you want to give teams entire series' off.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Definately in favor of dropping interleague altogether. (Not likely, but here's hoping.) There is no more "Dream matchups", nobody cares about the DBack .v. Tigers type matchups. I prefer the teams have more matchups with their own league then to have to play some meaningless interleague game. Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

Move the Astros (I prefer the Brewers, but whatever) to the AL, and drop interleague play.

You should crunch some numbers before you take this idea to the commish.

[CubmanPi]

nobody cares about the DBack .v. Tigers type matchups.

There are matchups like that all the time, whether or not interleague exists. The A's and Royals are playing a series right now. Looking at the scoreboard from ten days ago, there was a Reds-Nats series. Divisional matchups can be just as pointless, unless you think there would be any interest at all over a Cubs-Astros series right now.

 

Personally, I think year-round interleague could make the playoff races more interesting, assuming there are any that are actually up for grabs in September. It would double the number of playoff-bound opponents the Cubs could face in September. It would beat watching the Cubs trying to spoil the Cards or Brewers every year. And if they face the Orioles in September instead of the Tigers or Rays or Red Sox, then it's no worse than watching them play the Padres or Mets or Pirates.

[jersey cubs fan]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

 

Year-round interleague play is bad enough on its own. But year-round interleague would stress the rules disparity between the AL and NL, and eventually force the NL to adopt the DH (as the MLBPA would never give up the DH in the AL, with all the money it brings in). That's the part I find really upsetting.

 

It would not.

 

You wouldn't need anymore interleague games than you already have, so why would that force a change to the DH rule? If anything it would dilute the attention to the whole thing, spreading it out over 6 months intstead of cramming it into 3 weeks.

[jersey cubs fan]

A good decade after I first started talking about these ideas I'm getting a little excited that MLB is actually thinking of doing some of them.

[Clem Fandango]

Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

I was unaware that the pennant was only decided on wins and losses among teams in the same league. And here I thought all these wins and losses teams got in interleague play actually counted towards their final record to determine who does and doesn't win the pennant. Silly me.

[CP_414]

Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

I was unaware that the pennant was only decided on wins and losses among teams in the same league. And here I thought all these wins and losses teams got in interleague play actually counted towards their final record to determine who does and doesn't win the pennant. Silly me.

 

 

With the NL playoff races locked up, MLB has just cancelled the rest of the Cubs season.

[mopapa]

I can understand wanting to move a team into the AL, but why did they choose Houston? Not that I care, I'm just curious. Other states could have that AL/NL rivalry it seems like they're going for, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Marlins/Rays, etc. Does their overall record have anything to do with the requested move?

[bukie]

I can understand wanting to move a team into the AL, but why did they choose Houston? Not that I care, I'm just curious. Other states could have that AL/NL rivalry it seems like they're going for, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Marlins/Rays, etc. Does their overall record have anything to do with the requested move?

Houston isn't anywhere near the rest of the NL Central teams, while in the AL West they'd at least be near Texas.

[CP_414]

I can understand wanting to move a team into the AL, but why did they choose Houston? Not that I care, I'm just curious. Other states could have that AL/NL rivalry it seems like they're going for, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Marlins/Rays, etc. Does their overall record have anything to do with the requested move?

Houston isn't anywhere near the rest of the NL Central teams, while in the AL West they'd at least be near Texas.

 

Plus, Houston is for sale. NL teams won't want to move to the AL. They can force Houston to do it because whoever buys them will agree to something like that to get the team. They aren't a storied team like the Dodgers or Cubs, and they have a natural geographic rival in the AL. It makes sense.

[erik316wttn]

15 teams in each league would mean year-round interleague play. Not such a fan.

 

Why not? It happens in the other major sports leagues. Why not baseball? Just as long as the schedules balance out.

 

Someone here had a great idea a while back (I think it was Rocket, but I could be wrong)

 

18 games against each team in your division (18x4 = 72 games)

 

6 games against every other non-divisional team in your league (6x10 = 60 games)

 

6 games against each team in one division in the opposite league (6x5 = 30 games)

 

72+60+30= 162. Works for me!

[erik316wttn]

Definately in favor of dropping interleague altogether. (Not likely, but here's hoping.) There is no more "Dream matchups", nobody cares about the DBack .v. Tigers type matchups. I prefer the teams have more matchups with their own league then to have to play some meaningless interleague game. Those games have no bearing on the pennant races, so why have them?

 

Move the Astros (I prefer the Brewers, but whatever) to the AL, and drop interleague play.

 

I doubt many people care about gems like Pirates/Nats or Royals/A's either.

[J.R.]

Houston really has no choice, but I'd hate to be charged with convincing that market to get excited about the Angels, Athletics and Mariners. Rivalries will develop, but it will be a long, hard slog.