Houston Astros Moving to AL West

I live in Houston, so this is big news here, but it is also news for the A's, since they will be in the same division. This is effective 2013 and stems from the recent selling of the Astros.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7246443/houston-astros-sale-approved-mlb

They better add another wild card spot then.

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:


They better add another wild card spot then.

they are.

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:


They better add another wild card spot then.

they are.

I hope so, it will be better for baseball, and the Angels

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

They better add another wild card spot then.

they are.

I hope so, it will be better for baseball, and the Angels

HELL YEA

Houston, despite its current misfortunes, for history's sake should stay in the NL (just to balance the two Texas teams between the 2 leagues). If anything, the Brewers (which has past ties to the Selig family, hmmmm...) should move back to the AL Central, then the KC Royals can move logically to the AL West:

AMERICAN LEAGUE =

West:
Angels
A's
Mariners
Rangers
Royals

Central:
Brewers
Indians
Tigers
Twins
White Sox

East:
Blue Jays
Orioles
Rays
Red Sox
Yankees

NATIONAL LEAGUE =

West:
Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Giants
Padres
Rockies

Central:
Astros
Cardinals
Cubs
Pirates
Reds

East:
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
Phillies


FYI - the reason MLB had had an unbalanced number of teams between the 2 leagues (16 in the AL and 14 in the NL) recently (since 1998 IIRC) is so that on any given night, while 2 or 4 teams will have a travel/off day, the rest are evenly matched up since each league has an EVEN number of teams. Had both leagues had 15 teams each, invariably one team would be the odd one out without an opponent to play against in a series.

Now that I guess the MLB is going to year-round interleague play, the "AL" and "NL" will just be separate leagues in name only (pretty much like the other sports I suppose) and MLB will in actuality be just one big 30-team entity. Playoff expansion should come hand in hand with this, and my own preferance would be that they copy the NBA format where the top 8 teams record-wise in each 15-team league make the playoffs (regardless of "divisional champions", which will be moot) and just seed those 8 teams (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc) accordingly in the playoffs. Of course an expanded playoffs will probably mean they start in September (which prob means the 162-game schedule is lessened....overdue IMO). Also, RIP pennant races....just late-season fights for playoff seeding.

Originally posted by Dr_Bill_Walsh:

Now that I guess the MLB is going to year-round interleague play, the "AL" and "NL" will just be separate leagues in name only (pretty much like the other sports I suppose) and MLB will in actuality be just one big 30-team entity. Playoff expansion should come hand in hand with this, and my own preferance would be that they copy the NBA format where the top 8 teams record-wise in each 15-team league make the playoffs (regardless of "divisional champions", which will be moot) and just seed those 8 teams (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc) accordingly in the playoffs. Of course an expanded playoffs will probably mean they start in September (which prob means the 162-game schedule is lessened....overdue IMO). Also, RIP pennant races....just late-season fights for playoff seeding.

I hope that's not how they do it. 1st round of the NBA playoffs is usually a snooze-fest. The reason why I love baseball playoffs is because only really good teams make it to the playoffs. If they have to expand playoffs - they should follow the NFL system. 6 teams make the playoffs. Top two seeds get a BYE, and you play a 5 game series between the other 4 teams. Winners play the top two seeds in a 7 game series.

My ideal preference will be to just add 1 more wild card team. Have 5 teams make the playoffs. The bottom two teams fight it out in a 5 game series. The winner gets to play the top seed, and the no.2 seed takes on the no.3 seed in a 7 game series.

This way, you can keep the 162 game season, make it awfully hard for the wild-card teams to win it all and give a big edge to teams who have won their division. I'd hate a 8 team playoff system in each league. More than half the league shouldn't make the playoffs - average teams shouldn't be playing in playoffs - they belong in the regular season.

championship

Really going to be tough for them for a while. Glad it happened, not sure why they chose Houston though. Oh well.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
Really going to be tough for them for a while. Glad it happened, not sure why they chose Houston though. Oh well.

Houston got moved because Milwuakee had no desire to ever go back to the AL and Selig was going to make sure that didnt happen. Houston really was the only logical choice other than the Brewers. No other choice really.

I think the Astros moving to the AL made the most sense.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I hope that's not how they do it. 1st round of the NBA playoffs is usually a snooze-fest. The reason why I love baseball playoffs is because only really good teams make it to the playoffs. If they have to expand playoffs - they should follow the NFL system. 6 teams make the playoffs. Top two seeds get a BYE, and you play a 5 game series between the other 4 teams. Winners play the top two seeds in a 7 game series.

My ideal preference will be to just add 1 more wild card team. Have 5 teams make the playoffs. The bottom two teams fight it out in a 5 game series. The winner gets to play the top seed, and the no.2 seed takes on the no.3 seed in a 7 game series.

This way, you can keep the 162 game season, make it awfully hard for the wild-card teams to win it all and give a big edge to teams who have won their division. I'd hate a 8 team playoff system in each league. More than half the league shouldn't make the playoffs - average teams shouldn't be playing in playoffs - they belong in the regular season.

dunno if BYEs would work in baseball...yes rest is good after a grueling 6-month season, but rust can also factor in and a team that is still sharp after playing an opening playoff series might have the advantage (how many times have we seen a wild-card team that gets hot in Aug/Sept go on to win it all the past decade, upsetting teams with best records?) A 5 or 7 game series can last a week at least if if goes the distance, and it might be a disadvantage to a high-seed team to just sit idly by at the beginning of the playoffs. 6 playoff teams per league is probably ideal, but after the first round, you'll have 3 teams = odd number, one team will have no opponent. that why i say 8 teams, but handicap the lower seeds (5-8) by not giving them homefield advantage (only get 2 homegames in a 5-game series and middle 3 games in a 7-game series)

Originally posted by valrod33:
I think the Astros moving to the AL made the most sense.

Nahh...Brewers are the NL team that sticks out the most like a sore thumb to me as an NL team that's outta place if only for the sole reason that the Brewers originally started out as an AL team (Arizona, Florida and Colorado are close behind as iffy to me, but they were from the outset NL teams, same goes for the older "modern era" NL teams the Padres and Expos/Nats).

Basically, to me any team that was founded before the modern divisional era began (1969) should be sacrosanct and NOT switch leagues. Houston, founded in 1962 (renamed the Astros in 1965, they were the "Colt .45s" originally) IMO, fall into that "grandfathered" teams bracket, even though their club success hasn't been stellar (one World Series appearance).

The Brewers on the other hand, started of as an AL team (Seattle Pilots) in 1969, moved to Milwaukee in 1970, and played as an AL team for OVER A QUARTER CENTURY til 1998 (when the expansion to 30 teams, after the Dbacks and DRays joined, forced an unbalanced realignment of the AL and NL into respectively, 16 and 14 teams and the Brewers were chosen to swap over to the NL). I already mentioned the reason for having an unbalanced number of teams for each league (scheduling matchup reasons, especially for the non-Interleague period of the year; 15 teams each = one team w/ no opponent). I still think the past ties to the Selig family (former co-owners) has given the Brewers a favored-team label which is why they're not being asked to move back to the AL. The new politics of baseball I suppose supercedes any regard for historicity.