Brewers Moving to NL Central

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig will make it official today: His Milwaukee Brewers are moving from the American League Central to the National League Central.

Selig could not be reached, but the anticipated move was approved during an executive council conference call Wednesday, a council member said.

The move is considered the first phase of a larger realignment for 1999. With expansion Tampa Bay and Arizona beginning play in ‘98, the Brewers’ move gives the National League 16 teams and the American League 14.

The alignment provides for the playing of interleague games in various segments over the course of the season. A 15-15 alignment would have required the playing of an interleague game almost every night.

Arizona goes into the NL West, while the Brewers will be part of a six-team NL Central. Tampa Bay, which had initially been put in the AL West, will join the AL East. Detroit will move from the AL East to the Central, replacing Milwaukee.

In a conference call of owners on Oct. 15, the Kansas City Royals had been given first option on a move to the NL Central, but sources said the Royals declined because the club is for sale and current executors felt it was the wrong time to switch leagues, burdening prospective buyers with a move of which they might not approve.

The Brewers, next on the list, agreed to become the first big league team to switch leagues this century because of the city’s National League roots and geographic rivalry with the Chicago Cubs, who are also members of the NL Central.

While Milwaukee has been an American League city since the Seattle Pilots moved there before the 1970 season and became the Brewers, its first experience in major league baseball was with the National League.

The Braves moved from Boston and played in Milwaukee from 1953 to 1965 before moving to Atlanta.