So, this is fantastic. It turns out our new "regional" rival is in Denver. Hell of a large region, ain't it? Selig is both a douche and a moron.
A new regional rivalry for teams that have been playing regularly against one another for a decade drawing mostly yawns. I think they need to consult Webster to learn more about the word, rivalry.
Come on, Max. This is perfect. It is the team that moved to the AL against the team that should have gone to the AL.
The D-Backs make even more sense to me. And they are marketedly more West than Houston. I know because I have Google Maps.
Selig and Major League Baseball simply do not care. You and I both are diehard fans... but the game doesn't care about us or our town.
I don't know why, but I have always felt the same thing about them. I don't know what it is. However, they did win the World Series as an NL team, so even they have more history to support staying in the NL than the Rockies.
It's funny..because I've talked to others around the country who aren't Astros fans, and yet they share the same perception. Met a guy in Denver who was from Philly who went on forever talking about how the Astros were a true NL club and that it was just ridiculously disrespectful to forget the last 50 years. But beyond that...it's not really about the Astros...it's about timing. The Astros were being sold at the right/wrong time, giving MLB an opportunity to make something happen. Had the Padres sale gone first I'm convinced they'd be in the AL right now.
Agree with Max that it was all about timing, and about an owner that mlb probably really didn't want, but one that was willing to pay for the team. They found their perfect match at the perfect time. As for the OP, sad thing is we don't really have a rival. Sure, we look at the Cards as a rival like we used to look at the Dodgers as one, but no other team would say the Astros are their true rivalry. That is the one thing that I hope comes from the AL, yes saying the Rangers are our rival right now is a joke, i get that. But, if we ever are both really good at the same time, it could develop into a great rivalry some day, something that we have never had here in baseball.
Intern: "Uhh well we are left with Houston and-" Selig: "who?" Intern: "Astros" Selig: "The Brewers are taken care of.. So, I don't really care... Uhh give the Astros... The Pirates or Marlins, doesn't matter." Intern: "Uhh well the Rockies are left." Selig: "Great, whatever... The Astros and San Diego Rockies can become rivals..whatever, so the Yankees and Red Sox will be on television 45 times this year, right?" Intern: "Groan ... Yes."
I agree with you... there are about a dozen teams that Major League Baseball really doesn't care about, and would have been easily shafted as well.... It still boggles the mind that a game with unbelievable history and tradition, under Selig has basically thrown it all away. The Astros were an NL town for 75 years, in the minors and then majors.
I agree with the Ranger part...I see it already in slices, and the Astros are nowhere near competitive. When they are, it will be awesome. but the whole "regional rivalry with the Rockies" is honestly just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of from MLB regarding the Astros. I can't even imagine saying it with a straight face.
Agreed, but who?? Part of my point is we simply do not have one. Obviously they want to make this regional rivalry a big thing in some of the big media markets. NY vs NY, LA vs LA, Chicago vs Chicago ......unfortunately we don't have a match for that type of thing now that we are in the AL, and taking out being a lifelong fan of the Astros, it's pretty obvious that nation wide not many people are gonna worry about the Astros having a regional rivalry if they can make some good regional rivalries in major markets. I do not give selig credit for much, he doesn't deserve it. I will say this though, baseball is the one professional sport based on "tradition" much more than the others. Baseball has been around as a major professional sport much longer than Football/Basketball. But right now baseball isn't getting young fans at high levels, very few of today's youth is growing up loving professional baseball. For many of us older, loyal lifelong fans we would prefer things staying as they always have been. But to survive long term baseball needs young fans that are going to football and even basketball now. The NFL Draft had better ratings last year than the World Series! The Draft! Keeping things the same isn't going to keep "things the same" long term. Now i'm not saying this regional rivalry and daily interleague play or the extra wild card team are the right answers, but keeping things the same as they always have been simply wasn't working in the long term look.
The whole regional rival thing is so damned contrived. It disgusts me. Rivalries are born from competitiveness or proximity mixed with frequency. That's why Yankees/Red Sox is so great and why Dodgers/Giants is so great. Know what killed Astros/Dodgers? Realignment. Not that they were ever on the plane of those other examples, mind you.
I heard on the radio the other week them talking about teams without geographic interleague rivals. One was Atlanta. I'm sure most of us would rather play the Braves. Who is Atlanta playing instead? Toronto. That's probably the most ridiculous "rivalry". More than ours, Texas-Arizona, or San Diego-Seattle.
Got to have an interleague "rival" now. And since the Astros and Rangers are in the same league now, that doesn't count.
I don't disagree, but when another professional sports draft has better ratings than your championship series, status quo isn't a long term option. Again, not saying they are doing the right things or not, but just sticking with the same thing because of tradition isn't looking great, long term
I hear what you're saying here; really, I do. But the only thing constant in MLB since 1994 has been change. The WS ratings were low because the self-absorbed east and west coasts didn't have any teams involved. Throw in a Boston, Anaheim, LA, or NY in and the ratings will soar again. I hear you. I'll go ahead and say (in my not-so-valuable opinion) that they are *not* doing the right things. The lustre of "interleague" play wore off long ago. Now an interleague game happens every day, and nobody cares. The whole interleague thing was one thing that set the WS apart from other major championships: those teams did *not* play until the championship. Maybe MLB needed to make changes, but it didn't make the right ones. That said, last year's poorly watched WS aside, MLB is doing very well in terms of revenue and attendance. They're beating the hell out of the NBA for sure. nor is it great short term. Tradition is great and important--if you understand what is tradition and what is just "we've always done it that way" junk that can and should change with the times. I'm of the (again not-so-valuable) opinion that you can have *both*. You can hold onto some tradition and some things that keep your unique sport/league unique while also adapting to times and keeping your brand relevant. And no, I don't think Selig has gotten this right. I think Selig is an idiot. And a pompous douchebag.
