I'm pretty sure it's just a formality now, we're headed to the AL. I for one don't mind it, we have no historic rivalry with any NL teams.
I'm thinking; Yanks, Red Sox, Rays, Tigers > Phillies, Brewers, Cards There's going to be more games I'll want to go to in the AL, especially playing the Rangers more.
So far, this has only been reported by Peter Gammons, almost 24 hours ago. Nobody else has said this, so it isn't necessarily true. I will be royally pissed if it does happen though. I prefer NL baseball. I don't want more west coast games. The worst part about it, I live in GA. Turner Field is only 100 miles away from me. Not only does that mean I can catch at least one series in person every year, but I also get 6 televised games guaranteed. If they move to the AL, I won't get to watch them nearly as often. I guess I could always drive the 400 miles to St. Petersburg to catch a Rays game... Of course, if the Rays end up moving (assuming not to Nashville/Indianapolis), it becomes 740 miles to Baltimore.
Since we won't be winning in the NL anytime soon, lets try our hand with the AL. Crane has said he's willing to spend, just not on the guys we have right now. If he could settle between 100-120M payroll, we could be at least an entertaining club in 2 or 3 years.
you won't get to watch in person, but you can use the money saved not driving the 100 miles and buying tickets to get whatever the package is called so you can just watch all baseball games. then you'd actually get to see them more, and probably save money in the process. win-win?
I drive a Hybrid. so it doesn't cost me much to drive to ATL, and I actually get free tickets from a friend at Turner Broadcasting. Not to mention, going to the game is way better than TV. I also take rum in a water bottle so I don't have to pay $7.50/beer. :grin: I do pay annually for MLB radio. TV package is too expensive.
I live only 90 miles from Cleveland. Nice!:grin: All kidding aside, I think we won't do much damage in either league for a few years. We need to spend. We need a new GM. We need a farm system overhaul (I know it's gotten better, but it's still far from where it should be). This franchise has pretty much taken a nosedive the last few years. No way we can stay the course. Maybe this is the first of many moves to get us competitive.
So this whole decision should come down to if juicystream can catch a couple of games a year. Cmon man!
Where did I say that it should come down to me? I'm not asking them to take my personal situation into consideration, just that it will upset me me more because of my personal circumstances. For every one of me, there is probably a fan up in Seattle hoping for them to come to AL so he can catch them more often. I do believe they should take into consideration that a vast majority of Astros fans would prefer to remain in the NL, that Jim Crane would prefer to remain in the NL, that there is 50 years of being in the NL, and that the Rays could potentially be moved within the next 5 years, which could force more alignment changes to remain geographically consistent.
There's nothing new here, but I'll say it again. The Astros are a terrible fit for the AL West. They have no interesting history with the A's, Angels, or Mariners, and very little with the Rangers. It'll make a good portion of their games in the Pacific Time Zone, many starting at 9:00 CT. The only thing this does is make the division a little more palatable for the Rangers and their fans. They are the only winners in this deal.
It almost feels like we're having this very same discussion in another thread located in this very forum!
15 games in the west coast (not counting inter-league play) out of 162.Less than 10% so stop exaggerating. Even if we didn't get moved to the AL we'd be going old school and heading back to the NL west. I'm not mad. Change can be a good thing. This team has a lot more problems than just what league it's in. We are at ground zero right now and we have building to do. It won't be fast and it won't be easy so what's the difference in being crap for a couple (hopefully) of years in the AL then the NL?
