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Astros owner Drayton McLane is expected to complete the sale of the team to Jim Crane in mid-November, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter). The arrangement would move Houston to the American League West and even MLB into two leagues of 15 teams.

The sale of the Astros is intertwined with baseball's current round of collective bargaining. MLB is likely to add a Wild Card team by 2012 or 2013 and moving the Astros to the American League would likely accelerate expanded playoffs.

McLane recently said he expects the sale to be complete within three or four weeks. Last week, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes looked ahead to Houston's offseason.

Beckley Mason, HoopSpeak: Teams rarely come out of nowhere in the NBA, but the Bucks look like a team that could make a sneaky run into the top six of the East.

I like Stephen Jackson with that group, and if he decides to play, they should be a nasty matchup every night.

Michael Schwartz, Valley of the Suns: Fear the deer, as the Milwaukee Bucks will challenge for a top-five playoff spot. Their defense remained elite although the Bucks were decimated by injuries last season, so with Stephen Jackson sparking the offense and perhaps a bit of health luck, they will be better than the No. 6-seeded Bucks from two years ago.

goldbergkc Joel Goldberg
Happy 4th. Royals lineup: Maier 7, Melky 8, Butler DH, Frenchy 9, Hosmer 3, Pena 2, Moose 5, Escobar 6, Getz 9, Francis vs Buehrle

Chen:

Northwest Arkansas Naturals
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Chen (L, 0-1) 2.0 5 4 4 0 2 0 18.00

Davies:

Game 2 box score

Northwest Arkansas Naturals
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Davies (L, 0-1) 2.0 5 4 2 0 3 0 9.00

Royals vs. A's LHP Gonzalez: Aviles 4, Cabrera 8, Gordon 7, Butler DH, Francoeur 9, Hosmer 3, Betemit 5, Treanor 2, Escobar 6. O'Sullivan 1.

The Royals will play a baseball game two weeks from today. This excites me. Just sayin.

Linkage courtesy of my wife.

Joakim Soria got the job done in the season's final month, resulting in the Kansas City closer being named the winner of the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month Award for September.

Fellow CMSU (or UCM) Alumni may remember Josh Outman. He'll be on the mound for Oakland tonight. Though we certainly won't be hoping for a great deal of success, it's pretty cool to see one of our own starting in the majors