Astros Sale

[jta4437]

Yawn, dont care, hate the Astros, looking forward to the easy wins and extra games in Texas, might actually be able to make a few more games this year as opposed to waiting for interleague play and pray they fall on convenient weekends

 

[TexasMan]

The only way I like this is if they got rid of divisions altogether, making it to where everyone plays each other the same amount, and the teams with the best 4 records moves on to the playoffs... but they didn't, so it's a joke.

Astros fans don't give a crap about the Rangers, and I'm pretty sure it's vice versa.

 

[jta4437]

To be fair I don't think anyone cares about the Astros

 

[Windingmywatch]

As far as revenue goes. The Cardinals, Reds, and Cubs are sure more interesting to watch than the Angels, Athletics and Mariners. Problem with the AL West Teams is that both the Mariners and Athletics are so Hamstrung financially that they can't go out and get players to make themselves more attractive. This would hurt the Astros Home Attendance in my Opinion. The NL Teams in their Division are much bigger Attendance Draws. Those teams would sellout Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Fact that the move to the AL was a downer is that the current owner had to give Crane a $165mil discount to make the move. So in effect the HOU value was $165mil higher as an NL francise than as an AL franchise.

So ... MLB rather than fix the dilemma that stuck TEX in the ALWest ... two time zones to the left ... now they have screwed both Texas teams ... yet are trying to paint a happy face on how this helps TEX and HOU with improved attendance. That's a load of crap. All you have to do is check HOU attendance during interleague versus league play to see that it makes no difference.

 

[Windingmywatch]

The only way I like this is if they got rid of divisions altogether, making it to where everyone plays each other the same amount, and the teams with the best 4 records moves on to the playoffs... but they didn't, so it's a joke.

Astros fans don't give a crap about the Rangers, and I'm pretty sure it's vice versa.

Absolutely correct. MLB is trying to create a hard nose rivalry where none existed before either. It was always about ownership under the mistaken belief that home and home series with HOU helped the gate.

 

[AGZBASEBALL]

When the Astros and Rangers play each other in inter league play the Attendance in both Ballparks have always been good. But the Astros are now going to lose that Attendance from The NL Central Teams that came in twice a year to Minute Maid Park. Both Texas Teams have to deal with 9:00M start Times on the Road in Three Different Cities, not just the Rangers anymore. This is a Very Bad situation for the Astros. Plus now that both the Rangers and Astros will be playing each other more often, if one of the teams are bad attendance could drop off there as well. This really makes no sense. The Rangers have longed had the worst Travel in MLB. Now the Astros have joined them. Selig must hate both MLB Teams in Texas.

 

[Windingmywatch]

When the Astros and Rangers play each other in inter league play the Attendance in both Ballparks have always been good. But the Astros are now going to lose that Attendance from The NL Central Teams that came in twice a year to Minute Maid Park. Both Texas Teams have to deal with 9:00M start Times on the Road in Three Different Cities, not just the Rangers anymore. This is a Very Bad situation for the Astros. Plus now that both the Rangers and Astros will be playing each other more often, if one of the teams are bad attendance could drop off there as well. This really makes no sense. The Rangers have longed had the worst Travel in MLB. Now the Astros have joined them. Selig must hate both MLB Teams in Texas.

When the Astros and Rangers play each other in inter league play the Attendance in both Ballparks have always been good.

Not really. In HOU the numbers for TEX@HOU aren't that much different than their other interleague games. Move is flat bad move for HOU.

A good move for TEX from a revenue perspective would have been to swap spots with HOU.

 

[AGZBASEBALL]

The Astros draw well for all Inter League Games including the Rangers. Just saying that if there in the same Division the Novelty of the Rangers and Astros could wear off unless both Teams are really good at the same time. It will be the same now as playing the other teams in their division. True it's far worse the Astros than the Rangers. The Rangers now pick up at least one divisional opponent in their own time zone. The Astros lose all those NL Teams in their time zone and deal with the west coast teams 2 hours different each.

 

[Ginger]

I've been out perusing the internet trying to glean some information about these topics and I must say that the counter-arguments against Houston moving to the AL West are really weak. True, 3 of the teams are two time zones away which is a bona fide negative. True, the Astros lose the Cardinals and the Cubs as draws; however, they also gain more games against an in state rival who are back to back American League champions. They now get to play the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Rays. They get some really intriguing teams in the Central. Then they get the West teams. Now they lose the Phillies, Braves and Giants as draws but the reality is that if they play good baseball then it will be moot. Plus, interleague play is going to have to be year round now and maybe they can open up that a bit and every team get to play every team.