I missed this yesterday, but apparently there had been a report that the Arizona Diamondbacks could be an alternate candidate to move to the American League in that whole move-the-Astros-to-the-AL realignment gambit. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports, however, that the Dbacks wouldn’t be terribly interested in that. And, for that matter, Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall doesn’t think that they make as much sense geographically as some other team would.
Actually, that last part doesn’t make a ton of sense. Three of the four teams currently in the AL West are on the coast, so adding a team to that division that is closer to the coast would make less overall travel for the division as a whole than adding the Astros would. An AL West Houston team would double the number of trips to Texas for Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim. If you add Arizona, it’s just another stop on the way to California that the Rangers are making anyway. Not saying that travel is the be-all, end-all here -- the Braves were in the NL West for 25 years or so -- but it’s not nothing.
My guess is that this has a lot more to do with money. I bet that Arizona likes having the Dodgers and Giants fans -- who swarm to Phoenix in the spring already -- helping out at the gate when they come to town. And you can’t blame him them for liking that.