Astros Sold - Switch to AL Unanimous

In case you have not heard, the Houston Astros were sold and subsequently moved into the American League West Division.  The Astros are a proud franchise with decent history so it is not a shock that the fan base has reacted with disdain.

I just loved this comment at Astros County, our blog roll affiliate on the situation:

Anonymous said...

I hate Bud Selig with the hate of a thousand suns. Fifty years of tradition flushed down the toilet.

November 17, 2011 12:18 PM

Hate on, Anonymous.  Truthfully, we don't really like it either but for different reasons.  The implications of the switch are far reaching.  The switch means that the American and National Leagues will be split equally into 15 members.  With an even number of teams, it means more interleague play... a lot more interleague play.  There will likely be upwards of thirty interleague games on each team's schedule with interleague games being played into September.  With the realignment, it was also announced that Major League Baseball would, in fact, expand the number of playoff teams by two.  At the end of the season, there will be two Wild Card teams from each league that will compete for one spot in the League Division Series'.  It has yet to be determined what format that extra round will take but it widely presumed that it will be a one game play-in.  We have speculated about this proposed change for quite some time; I welcome the extra playoff layer but not at the expense of more interleague play.  I love the fact that every game played in September has the potential to be a meaningful Division game that could generate a huge swing in the standings.  I'm also not a huge fan of what a coast-to-coast road trip could do to my team in a midst of a playoff chase.  The extra playoff team doesn't bother me; I don't think it waters anything down.  Baseball is still the most difficult sport to make the playoffs, even with the two team addition (sending 33% of teams to the playoffs is still less than the 37.5% of teams that make the playoffs in the NFL).  

My $0.02... tell us what you think.