We had gotten word that this probably was going to happen a few days ago, but today Major League Baseball officially announced that the Houston Astros will be moving from the NL Central to the AL West starting with the 2013 season.

The move became official when new Astros owner Jim Crane was approved by the league's other 29 owners, finalizing the sale of the club from former owner Drayton McLane to Crane. As part of the purchase agreement, Crane agreed to have his team change divisions in exchange for a discount.

With the move, there are now going to be three divisions of five teams apiece in each league, finally giving balance to all of the divisions. As someone that roots for an NL Central team, this is some seriously good news after years of having to compete with five other teams when nobody else has to compete with more than four.