Admit it: Pain eases from Astros’ league switch
My main memory is hate. Proud, seething hate. There was a time when I couldn’t open my inbox without finding a waiting email from some fiery old-timer who swore it was the worst thing to happen to the Astros.
There was a season when it felt like every tweet, blog or game story was dragged down by constant haters, adamant that Houston’s baseball team would never be the same.
“The Astros are dead to me. I will never go to a … game, even if the tickets were given to me,” wrote Sarah A back in March 2013.
No, I’m not referring to the massive rebuild that led to a franchise-record six All-Stars in the annual Midsummer Classic in Miami.
I’m bringing up the name that should never be mentioned. I’m reflecting on how everything that once felt so awkward — foreign, drastic, insulting — now makes solid sense. Bud Selig. The American League. The Astros in the AL West. Leaving all that history behind, abruptly switching sides and acting like life in the National League never was a thing.
“I’m absolutely convinced
that Houston’s … move will in the long run — even the medium run — be very, very healthy,” the former commissioner told the Chronicle in 2013.
I don’t like to spend my time on this planet saying Selig was right. But he was on this one.
Admit it: You don’t think about the old National League that much anymore.
I devote a lot of my daily brain space to the Astros, and I rarely do.
Saying “Jose Altuve, American League starting second baseman and leadoff hitter” sounds just fine. Seeing George Springer and Carlos Correa in the AL’s lineup against stars from Washington, San Francisco and Cincinnati felt perfectly normal Tuesday.
“Baloney. Houston has always been a National League town. This was all about money and never about the fans,” wrote Glenn, in the same year the rebuilding Lastros lost a franchise-record 111 games. “I cannot in good conscience root for a team that fields a (choke) designated hitter (i.e. washedup fat guy) and plays the Noo York Yankees on a regular basis. How far a drive is it to Cincinnati?”
About 1,050 long and boring miles, Glenn. And I guarantee you never would think about making that slog now, especially when you can watch the best team in the American League at home and are just three months away from being able to buy a playoff ticket at Minute Maid Park.
Time, winning heal all
Look, the hate was real. I got it then, and I get it now. One of the greatest things about baseball is its history, and any time that’s threatened — steroids, cheating, realignment — all of us believers get very, very serious.
“It became evident the move to the AL was an issue,” owner Jim Crane said in November 2011, after MLB approved the Astros’ sale and dictated the move to the AL, giving each league 15 teams and all divisions five clubs apiece.
Isn’t time funny? And isn’t it crazy what winning — and players and a team you believe in — can do?
The late-night West Coast games are still a chore. Outside of the Texas Rangers — who are 16½ games back, if you haven’t heard — I’m still not sold on any of the Astros’ other AL West opponents.
But Selig’s move is actually helping the AL’s best team in 2017. Four of baseball’s five best clubs are in the NL, and the Astros actually would be second overall in their old league, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by half a game.
Selig also helped push the Astros into the postseason in 2015. The two NL wild cards had at least 97 wins. The 86-win Astros needed until Game 162 to clinch the sport’s last playoff spot and wouldn’t have sniffed a Division Series if they still played in the NL Central.
Dallas Keuchel and Correa have won major AL awards since the relocation. Altuve has two batting titles. The Astros are averaging more than 30,000 fans at home, and it really doesn’t matter who they’re playing in 2017 at Minute Maid, because it’s always worth going.
“You set up a great rivalry with (the Rangers). And that’s what we try to do with these things,” Selig said. “And you have the Red Sox and the Yankees and other clubs coming in there that are very attractive.”
Right again.
A case for DH
There’s also the pitchers not hitting thing.
I grew up on NL ball. And if this were the Civil War Part II and I had to pick sides, I would be waving the National flag until my hands fell off. But the best part of the 2017 Astros is their overloaded lineup, and this team isn’t as dangerous if Brad Peacock is hitting instead of Carlos Beltran or Evan Gattis.
Better playoff positioning. A true in-state rival. More at-bats for the besthitting team in baseball.
What made the National League so great again?
“They’ve drafted very well and wisely. And I think Houston fans have a lot to look forward to,” Selig said. “If their rebuilding program is as good as I think it is and they think it is, they’re going to create a lot more great memories.” Darn it. The old commish whom we hated nailed that one, too.