Welcome to the American League!

The World Series is over, and the Giants won, blah blah blah. If you're like me, aside from catching a game or so of the playoffs just to get a break from 24/7 pigskin coverage, you completely checked out from ongoing baseball. Who wants to dwell on the worst season in club history, anyway?

Some of us don't have a choice, or we're just gluttons for pain. I devoted my time during the playoffs to setting up my own Pitch F/X database on my home computer, with Retrosheet hopefully to follow. With that, I'll be able to pen posts that detail exactly why the Astros were so unsuccessful in 2012 in so much excruciating detail that it will make you turn to the Joe Morgans of the world for more palatable baseball inanities. My lack of posting over the last month is entirely due to that project, but I could not let this historic day pass without adding my 25 cents*.

* Note: because of inflation, my 2 cents is now 25 cents. That's what comes of a 23,985,729,358 Trillion dollar defecit. There, I added topical political humor and we can move back to baseball.

As of today, the Astros are unofficially officially members of the American League. I say unofficially because to my knowledge there is no circle on Bud Selig's calendar to mark the actual day that the Astros transfer into the Junior Circuit, but today is the first day of the baseball off-season, and that's good enough for me.

I want to challenge the readers of The Crawfish Boxes: We can do nothing about the Astros' leaving behind 50ish years in the National League to join the dark side at this point. Nobody likes a complainer unless the complainer can propose an actual viable solution to address the issues they are complaining about. A viable solution that would please the fans and Astros' ownership doesn't exist, so let's move on.

• Today is the first day of full-time Designated Hitters for the Astros.
• Today is the first day of a "perhaps-it-will-mean-something-someday" rivalry with the Washington Senators, I mean Arlington Senators, I mean Arlington Rangers, I mean Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex Rangers.
• Today is the first day of new traditions and a new history for our hometown team.
• Today is the first day of building a new legacy based on solid prospecting, sensible spending, and a long term vision rather than the whim of being a "champion" with spare parts and rusty vets.

C'mon...get on board, it will be fun, I promise!* From this day forward, I intend to approach my articles with my eye on the future. It's all well and good to point out what the Astros did in 2012 to struggle so badly, but I'll also point out what they do well and pinpoint the specific areas where improving will help them succeed in 2013.

What good is the past to us now, other than for fond memories of the Killer B's, the Astrodome, and playoff series against the Braves? The past is still there, but it's no longer relevant. Today, the Astros begin to make a new past for us fans, and we'll get to say we witnessed the most interesting time in the history of the franchise.

Below, I give you one last chance to vent your frustrations about the move. Or if you prefer, give us the reasons why you are looking forward to a clean slate in the AL.

*Guaranteed, or no money back!