"As the geographical outlier in baseball's super division — by size only, it must be said — the Astros understandably have come up often as a candidate to move to the American League should baseball realign its divisions.

Such a move would be a drastic one — new rivals, new itineraries and even a new rule book.

Commissioner Bud Selig has said realignment is unlikely to accompany the new collective bargaining agreement for a 2012 shakeup, but the players' union has discussed bringing it to the table for sometime in the near future.

And the proposed realignment change comes at a time of real change in the Astros organization. Drayton McLane has vocally resisted a move, but because he likely is on his way out the door soon, there could be opportunities to relocate under the new ownership group led by Jim Crane."