I don't like this, Astros have virtually NO history with any AL team and the only real team that would be our rivals are the Rangers. In the NL, the Astros actually have rivalries with Braves, Cards, Cubs.
Nope. This is my biggest objection. More than rivalries, start times, etc., I'd like to win... and the AL means more high-revenue teams and one more position to fill (DH) at an average cost of $8.5 million. That's average. Sure, Crane might be "compensated" a bit for the move... but I don't see the team payroll averaging $10 million higher than it would in the NL. Long-term, I see team resources being stretched even more thin. Plus, while there are a few decent clubs in the NL Central... I'd contend that the Rangers are the best-run franchise in MLB. Not at all looking forward to directly competing with them on a year-in, year-out basis.
wow; I'm honoured that you singled me out. Rest assured, I respect your opinion although I don't share it. We obviously see baseball differently. For how I see baseball, reference this beautiful take from Buck:
I sure hope you don't lack the intellectual capacity to understand that .5 nanoseconds after you claimed that people don't really dislike our NL rivals, half a dozen people aired their hatred. Really, do I really have to explain that to you? "A couple of guys" indeed. Indeed! And those guys wouldn't want to leave their leagues, either. Do you need some history lessons?
I was characterizing some of the responses from that crowd. Not overstated, but certainly overgeneralized. I'm sure there are 20-somethings who get it. No, that's your perception. I can't control how you misperceive things. Bully for you. I've said all along that I understand and respect that other people will feel differently. Now, can you do the same? Quite a few people, not just msn, have posted similar takes here. Perhaps it is a more common sentiment than some here wish to admit? I mean how could you have rooted for the Braves? or the Cubs? holy crap, man?!?! Or, maybe, people are different, and that's OK. There are even Texans fans who -shudder- root for the Cowboys, even. Thanks for this psychobabble, but I'm not "afraid" of anything. I'm well aware that moving to the AL won't cause me to lose my memories, Dr. Phil. Now, drop the condescending bull**** if you want to continue to discuss this intelligently. Why, why, why can't people acknowledge different viewpoints without assuming something is faulty in the other party? No "fear" here, Dr. Phil. agreed!
15 years ago, they moved the Brewers to avoid interleague play year-round. Now, they're moving the Astros to get interleague play year-round. I bet they will move another team to a different league when they figure out that its not neccessarily a good thing year-round, or if they ever expand/contract again.
The more I think about it, I am ok with it, we really don't have any massive rivalries....I mean the Cardinals a bit, and the Cubs too, but not really anything major. The old central division added Milwaukee and that seemed to be fine. I think moving to a division with Texas gives us a chance to have a real grudge match in a few years. DD
nice one-liner, but it doesn't help your failed argument. Too bad you can't see past your big opinion to any other perspectives.
Ichiro may sell out games in Houston since Ming left... Asian money is up for grabs and needs to be addressed now
Not sure that Chinese people have forgiven Japan though, might not translate as well as you think. DD
I'm not a fan of the move to the AL, but it's not because of the late games. Remember that the Astros were in the National League West for many years with the Dodgers, Padres and Giants and the late games didn't seem to be an issue then. I am mostly against the move because of the DH. I just like the NL game better. But i will still root the team on.
My whole life I've identified as an NL guy. This isn't hoops where it's Western Conference/Eastern Conference and no one really cares. The history of baseball is wrapped up in these leagues being separate..being different. I just don't like the AL and really don't want MY team moved to that league.
Eh, more like 27 out of 162 (16%). You play teams in your division 18 times each, usually nine at home and nine on the road. That's compared with 18 out of 162 (11%) this year, since we still play the NL West a decent bit as is. Moreover, there are no Mountain teams in the AL. By comparison, the Astros had seven games in Colorado and Arizona this year. There are a lot of reasons to be against the AL, but I don't see late start times as an issue at all. All in all, this year, you'd be swapping 18 games in the Pacific time zone and 7 games in the Mountain time zone (25 total) for 27 games, all in the Pacific. In the context of a 162 game schedule, that's not very much of a difference at all.
Wait..you lost me. Ok, 18 games against division opponents. 9 of those are road games. So you'd have 27 division road games in the Pacific time zone (OAK, LAA and SEA). Unless I'm counting wrong, we played a grand total of 11 games in the Pacific time zone this last season; not 18. We played: 4 in SD from June 2-5; 3 in LA from June 17-19; 3 in LA from August 12-14; 4 in SF from August 25-28 That makes 11 total Pacific Coast games. We played 4 in AZ from August 8-11; 3 in COL from August 22-24 That makes 7 total Mountain games. That totals to 18 games where there's a later start than at home; but 7 of those 18 only start an hour later...not 2 hours later. As opposed to being a division with 3 other teams who you visit 27 times and your start times are all 2 hours later than they are at home.
Sadly, neither one of us can count. Add them up, and that's 14 Pacific coast games. I think I got 18 because I initially included Arizona in the tally, before I realized that they're only equivalent to Pacific time in the winter. That said, their games start at 8:40 Houston time, so it's not much of a difference. To me, an additional nine late starts in the context of a 162-game sport isn't a big deal. That said, don't take this to mean I support moving to the AL, because I definitely do not.
Ugh... see, the details of that petition drive me nuts. Maybe it doesn't most people. But saying something like "a majority of our games would start after 9 pm..." when the real figure is 16% (27 out of 162... and at least 14 will, no matter what league/division we're in)... it just makes the author seem uneducated and takes away from the credibility. We need to focus on the rivalries, the history and the unfairness to Crane, who agreed to buy the team when it was presented as a lower-budget NL outfit.
