Astros sold, will move to American League

[Mel_13]

Report: Astros sale hinged on AL move

HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball only agreed to the pending sale of the Houston Astros to businessman Jim Crane after he agreed to move the team to the American League, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. The sale is expected to be approved Thursday.

The person said Major League Baseball told Crane he would only be able to buy the team from Drayton McLane if he agreed to move the Astros out of the National League, where they have played ever since their first game in 1962.

Crane will receive a $70 million discount off the $680 million purchase price in exchange for moving the Astros to the AL in 2013, an MLB official with knowledge of the talks said, the Houston Chronicle reported.

McLane and MLB will contribute $35 million each to the discount, according to the Chronicle.

An official announcement of the Astros' jump to the AL might not be made Thursday, so that the day's focus can be on the sale and the new owner, the newspaper reported.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/72...merican-league

[CubanMustGo]

I guess the AL didn't have enough teams that sucked ...

[stretch]

makes things more balanced, more fair, imo. 15 teams in each league, 5 in each division.

will be interesting to see the Rangers and Astros duking it out for the division crown now.

[Axe Murderer]

will be interesting to see the Rangers and Astros duking it out for the division crown now.

lol

[Spurminator]

Why not just move the Brewers back to the AL since that's where they were for most of their history?

[Mel_13]

Why not just move the Brewers back to the AL since that's where they were for most of their history?

Just look at the six teams in the NL Central and the four teams in the AL West. Moving Houston is the obvious choice.

[coyotes_geek]

will be interesting to see the rangers and angels duking it out for the division crown while getting to beat up on the astros in the process now.

fify.

[Kyle Orton]

asstros

[JamStone]

Just look at the six teams in the NL Central and the four teams in the AL West. Moving Houston is the obvious choice.

I liked the idea of Colorado moving to the AL West and then moving one of the NL Central teams, probably Houston still, to the NL West.