Astros going American League

[love_that_reefer]

Astros owner Drayton McLane is expected to complete the sale of the team to Jim Crane in mid-November, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter). The arrangement would move Houston to the American League West and even MLB into two leagues of 15 teams.

The sale of the Astros is intertwined with baseball's current round of collective bargaining. MLB is likely to add a Wild Card team by 2012 or 2013 and moving the Astros to the American League would likely accelerate expanded playoffs.

McLane recently said he expects the sale to be complete within three or four weeks. Last week, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes looked ahead to Houston's offseason.

I am all for the Astros moving to the AL but 100% against another WC.

[HollywoodLeo]

I'm against another WC but I could live with it if it wasn't a one-game playoff for the two WCs.

[Trendy Bastard]

I'm still on the fence on adding another wildcard. But I'm totally against a one game playoff for the two wildcards. The five game division series is bad enough, why make it even more of a crapshoot?

[missionhockey21]

I am totally against another wild card... its just not needed. The MLB season is grueling and making the playoffs is more special than it is some other sports.

[love_that_reefer]

Now they're saying if this happens, we would have interleague all year round. If that happens, why even have separate leagues?

[HollywoodLeo]

They'd kinda have to have interleague all year round with 15 teams in each league.

That part doesn't really bother me, though. Why have separate leagues? Why does the NFL have separate conferences when there's always teams from opposite conferences playing each other?

I'm sure the schedule will still be constructed with limited interleague games per team. It'll just be spread out more instead of being a one-month long extravaganza.

In fact, I think I like that even better because it won't be some unnecessarily hyped up point of the season. "Hey! It's interleague time!!!! OMG!"

[love_that_reefer]

Per MLBTR.com

Prospective Astros owner Jim Crane has agreed to move the team to the American League in 2013, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). Crane still needs the approval of baseball's other owners. He would get a discount of approximately $50MM to switch leagues, according to Heyman. Bob Nightengale of USA Today says compensation will be in the $80MM range (Twitter link).

The move would even out the two leagues at 15 teams each and create six divisions of five teams, assuming Houston joins the four-team American League West. The shift is tied to the upcoming collective bargaining agreement, which may include identical schedules for teams within the same division and boost inter-league play considerably. As MLBTR's Tim Dierkes explained in his GM Meetings preview, owners are expected to approve the sale of the Astros from Drayton McLane to Crane this week.

Nothing like a $50 million discount!

[cjkalt]

Especially to move to a league where u got a real rivalry... Mbn

[love_that_reefer]

MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced Thursday that Jim Crane's purchase of the Astros was approved by owners.
Crane originally agreed to buy the team from Drayton McLane for the price of $680 million, but he is expected to get a $70 million discount to move the franchise to the American League. Selig confirmed Thursday that the Astros will move to the American League West in 2013, which will result in 15 teams in each league and interleague play on a daily basis. Interestingly, Selig also said that the addition of two Wild Card teams to the current playoff format could still happen as soon as 2012.

A $70 million discount now? WOW! I guess its only fair since the team is going to be terrible for a long time.