Peter Gammons reminded everyone this week why he’s still an awesome reporter with great connections around the MLB even if he doesn’t work for the Big Dog, Espn, anymore 
with this tweet: “Houston ownership change expected to go through in mid-November, w/ AL move.” After that compound sentence, let’s examine what this means and why nobody cares. The sale is expected within a few weeks and the Astros will likely move to the AL West for the 2013 season. Scheduling gets a little hairy and the purists will get upset about an increase in interleague play. But who cares? The game should be about parity and fairness and with 6 teams in the NL Central competing for a playoff spot while 4 teams compete in the AL West compete for an equal playoff spot, there’s a significant problem.
Fans in Houston are some of the best in the game and I understand Minute Maid Park is a great place to watch a game. Are they going to be upset about losing the matchups with rival Cardinals and Cubs every year? Probably. Does the $50 MM the new owners get for agreeing to the move make everything worthwhile? Probably. The Astros are the perfect team to make the move. They have little bargaining power right now: they’re real bad and will be for a few more years, they have new ownership, and honestly, how many people can you name on their team? How many non-Astros fans will be upset? Don’t raise your hands NL Central.
Peeking forward about 5 years, and we’ve got quite the division out West. The Astros are relevant again, infused by the $50MM the owners gave them for the move, they sink it into the amateur draft and have an abundance of 22 year olds ready to be All Stars. The Rangers, the Astros new rival, are coming off of a 7 year reign of terror on other teams’ rotation and are fighting for more Championships. The Athletics are in the midst of a Miami Marlins makeover thanks to a new ballpark. The Seattle Mariners have King Felix and Michael Pineda in their respective prime. Tell me this isn’t the most exciting division in baseball.
I love the move for baseball. It should create a more even schedule throughout the game and generates a new rivalry that I’m sure Texans will fight until the bitter end. Good job MLB.
Stat of the Day: Ichiro, Albert Pujols, CC Sabathia, Roy Oswalt, and Alfonso Soriano were all rookies in 2001.
-Sean Morash
