Saturday, October 18, 1997
Reds like new NL Central

BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer

No matter which American League team - Kansas City, Milwaukee or Minnesota - moves into the National League Central beginning with the 1998 season, the Reds will be happy with phase one of realignment.

Who goes where
Royals or Brewers will move into NL Central, with Detroit moving to AL Central: 
NL CENTRAL     AL CENTRAL 
Cincinnati     Cleveland 
Chi. Cubs      Chi. White Sox 
Houston        Detroit# 
Pittsburgh     Minnesota 
St. Louis      Kansas City or
Kansas City#   Milwaukee 
or Milwaukee#
               
NL EAST        AL EAST
Atlanta        Baltimore
Florida        Boston
Montreal       NY Yankees
NY Mets        Tampa Bay*
Philadelphia   Toronto

NL WEST        AL WEST
Arizona*       Anaheim
Colorado       Oakland
Los Angeles    Seattle
San Diego      Texas
San Francisco

#New to division
*Expansion team
''They're all nice fits, similar type cities and markets, and their payrolls are very similar to ours,'' Reds managing executive John Allen said Friday.

Allen said he had no inside information on which one of the three AL Central teams will wind up in the NL Central. Kansas City has first choice. If Kansas City says no, Milwaukee has agreed to move. The Royals have an Oct. 31 deadline.

Allen is pleased that the NL will have 16 teams next season and the AL 14, because that means the schedule makers can ''bunch'' interleague games during the same periods of the season, as happened this past year. A 15-15 setup of teams in each league would have required some interleague play every day of the season.

The NL Central in 1998 will be comprised of Cincinnati, Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago (Cubs) and one of the following: Kansas City or Milwaukee or Minnesota.

''A six-team division doesn't scare us,'' Allen said. ''We'll be playing (a total of) 57 games against the other five teams in our division, 90 against the other 10 teams (in the NL) and 15 interleague games,'' he said.

Some form of realignment was required to get the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays into the AL East. Under the plan approved last Wednesday, Detroit will leave the AL East for the AL Central, moving into the spot vacated by Kansas City, Milwaukee or Minnesota.

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