TORONTO -- Forget having to share hotel rooms and early wake-up calls for commercial flights. Life in the big leagues means traveling in style. Just ask pitcher Jarred Cosart and shortstop Jonathan Villar, both of whom are on their first Major League road trip.
"It's very different from when we take flights [in the Minor Leagues]," Villar said. "You can relax and go out. You want to stay alone in the hotel, and you can stay in a single [room]. That's very different."
The Astros, of course, travel on charter flights and stay at luxury hotels. There's also a Major League per diem and bellhops who deliver bags to their hotel rooms.
"In Triple-A, it was more like wake-up at 3 a.m. and go the airport and the flight would leave at 6 and you'd have a couple of connectors, then you get to the city and take a nap and go the park," Cosart said. "It's definitely a big change. It's obviously a lot nicer. I see why people don't want to come back [to the Minor Leagues] when they come here. That's all the more reason to work hard."
Players in Triple-A had to pay extra money to have their own hotel rooms, or they could share with a teammate. Each player has his own room in the Majors.