Bob Levey/Getty ImagesIt's official. MLB has approved the sale of the Houston Astros to a group led by Jim Crane, and he will move the 'Stros to the AL West in 2013.
Usually, realignment within a league like the MLB doesn't really change a whole lot around. The season is long enough that everything usually evens out pretty quickly.
Sure, the Astros will have to adjust strategy by using an everyday DH, and they will obviously face different teams more often. But other than that, what else changes?
According to former Astros players, this move means a lot more than just baseball.
"I think it's a travesty," said Lance Berkman, who still considers himself as an Astro. "It's a National League franchise. I think if they were going to do something like that, Milwaukee's the choice to go back to the American League; they're historically an American League franchise."
And therein lies the real problem.
Ever since the Houston Colt .45s entered the league in 1962, this has been a National League franchise. Even though the changes to the actual game will be minimal, fans will have a tough time adjusting.
They don't want to watch American League baseball when they've only known NL baseball their whole lives.
“It’s a shame, I think, that Bud Selig is probably going to make that be sort of a condition of the sale," Berkman said. I don’t like it. Even when I retire and live here in Houston, I don’t want to go watch American League baseball. I’d like to have a National League team.”
Berkman wasn't the only one to think the Brewers should be the team to move, either.
“The team that should be in the American League is Milwaukee,” said former All-Star outfielder Jim Wynn, who played for the Astros from 1963-1973. “Milwaukee came from the American League. The National League team is the Houston Astros. If they move to the American League, the fanbase is going to get really mad.”
Again, it all comes down to history. The Brewers are historically an AL team and therefore should be the team moving to that league.
But unfortunately for Astros fans, Jim Crane didn't buy the Brewers. This is his decision, and it is officially going to happen.
Major League Baseball is a league with storied traditions. Now, with this move, one of those traditions is ending.
It won't change the game, but it's always hard to watch traditions die.
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