the astros agreed to become an american league team on november 15, 2011.
the astros agreed to become an american league team on november 15, 2011.
when did the astros agree to become an american league team?
november 15, 2011
on november 15, 2011, it was announced that crane had agreed to move the franchise to the american league for the 2013 season. the move was part of an overall divisional realignment of mlb, with the national and american leagues each having 15 teams in three geographically balanced divisions. crane was given a $70 million concession by mlb for agreeing to the switch; the move was a condition for the sale to the new ownership group. two days later, the astros were officially sold to crane after the other owners unanimously voted in favor of the sale. it was also announced that 2012 would be the last season for the astros in the nl. after over 50 years of the astros being a part of the national league, this move was unpopular with many astros fans.
history of the houston astros
the astros have completed 56 seasons in major league baseball, qualifying for the postseason eleven times and reaching the world series twice (2005 and 2017). established as an expansion franchise in 1962, the team's first winning season was in 1972. in 1980 the astros made their first postseason appearance. from 1997–2005, the team made postseason appearances in six out of nine seasons. from 2006 to 2013 the franchise experienced a steady decline with consecutive 100-loss seasons in 2011, 2012 and 2013. in 2015 the team defeated the new york yankees in the 2015 american league wild card game. this was the astros' first postseason appearance as an american league team, and first overall since 2005. it was also the astros' first playoff win since game 6 of the 2005 national league championship series. houston would qualify for the playoffs again in 2017, defeating the boston red sox in the 2017 american league division series and the new york yankees in the 2017 american league championship series. the team would go on to defeat the los angeles dodgers in the 2017 world series, winning the championship for the first time in team history.
list of houston astros seasons