That not only are they moving to the AL, but probably the best division in the AL, and certainly the best for pitching. How many times this year will the Astros lineup be forced to face Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, Yu Darvish and Alexi Ogando, Jered Weaver, the whole A's Starting Rotation (which is 6 guys now? Makes sense to keep all those young arms + Bartolo Colon healthy), and pretty much every one of those bullpens are nasty, add to that that 3 of 4 new parks are pitcher's parks.
The Central Division of the NL last season had the Reds impressive staff (in a hitter's park), the Cardinal's patchwork staff, Greinke and Gallardo (in a hitter's park), and Jeff Samardzija, and AJ Burnett in Pittsburgh (the only pitcher's park).
So the Astros are moving to better pitchers and bigger parks with a lot of guys entering their sophomore (or well into their decline) seasons against competition that they mostly haven't seen before. Like the Mariners last season, it will be pretty easy to pitch around and or neutralize the handful of threats. Not to say that I expect them to lose 120, but I do think it's possible they get close.
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