The St. Louis Cardinals' division just got a little smaller.
News broke earlier today that the pending sale of the Houston Astros franchise to Jim Crane has indeed finalized, and as a direct result, the Astros are moving to the AL West.
Effective at the start of the 2013 season, the Houston Astros will no longer be in the NL Central -- where they have finished in the bottom three slots for the last three years -- and will move the American League West division.
For over a decade, the NL Central division has had six teams while every other division -- outside of the AL West -- has had five teams:
The St. Louis Cardinals will have an uneven division for only one more year. And, once the league transitions into a five-teams-per division model, the leagues will be forced to play interleague games all year, as commissioner Bud Selig said: "We'll have interleague play from Opening Day on."
Maybe it's time for the Cardinals to start shopping for a DH too?
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