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THE CZECH IS IN THE MAIL
An all-Texas World Series was something dreamt about by some.
It was a possibility during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, as the Houston Astros won the National League Central Division championship both years and the Texas Rangers claimed the American League West Division crown. Both teams were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, so the all-Texas World Series never happened.
Sad but true, an all-Texas World Series will never happen. When Major League Baseball decided to move the Astros into the AL West prior to the start of the 2013 season, they became division rivals with the Rangers.
Yes, it’s been 12 years since the Astros last played as a member of the National League, yet it’s still hard for me to accept that fact. Houston has done well since moving to the American League, with two World Series titles to boot since making the move.
While it makes sense for both the AL and NL to have 15 teams with three divisions of five in each league, do we really need the two Texas teams in the same division — let alone the same league? The fiasco that is MLB realignment began back in 1993.
In 1992, there were 26 MLB teams — 14 in the AL and 12 in the NL. The Rangers were in the AL West with the Oakland Athletics, California (now Los Angeles) Angels, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox, while the Astros were in the NL West with the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.
The expansion Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins joined the NL in 1993, with the Rockies joining the NL West and the Marlins joining the NL East, giving each league 14 teams. Something else happened in 1993 — MLB Commissioner Bud Selig decided to create three divisions per league starting in 1994.
The Rangers stayed in the AL West with Oakland, California and Seattle starting in 1994, while the Astros moved into the NL Central with St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cubs that season. In both leagues, the Central and East divisions had five teams, while the West divisions had four.
The format stayed the same until 1998, when the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks joined the NL West and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now Rays) joined the AL East. This led to more fiascos that could’ve been avoided.
Instead of having 15 teams in each league, Selig made the “genius” decision to move the Milwaukee Brewers from the AL Central into the NL Central — a move that put six teams in the NL Central and 16 in the NL overall, with 14 in the AL. If he had thought carefully and planned properly, Selig could’ve created a 15-15 format with five teams in each division back in 1998 by moving Kansas City into the AL West with Texas, Seattle, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels (then Anaheim).
This way, Selig could’ve kept Milwaukee in the AL Central and moved Detroit into the AL Central to fill Kansas City’s void, and the only change in the NL would’ve been adding Arizona to the West Division to even out the three divisions in the league. Under this format, the Astros would’ve remained in the NL Central.
Another option for Selig would’ve been to move Milwaukee to the NL Central and follow by moving Houston to the NL West. Then, Arizona would’ve been added to the AL West, Tampa Bay to the AL East and Detroit to the AL Central, which still would’ve resulted in a 15-15 split.
Instead, Selig waited 15 years to move the Astros into the AL West to create the current 15-15 format. Thanks to his “genius” move, we will never get to have an all-Texas World Series.
Jason Chlapek is the area editor of the Elgin Courier and Taylor Press. He can be reached at jason.chlapek@granitemediapartners.
com.
