WEST SACRAMENTO -- From a 20-31 hole in mid-May to an AL West crown on the final day, the Astros are headed back to October.
Houston clinched the division when the Rangers lost to the Twins, 6-4, on Sunday. The Astros’ game against the A’s in West Sacramento had not yet gone final, but that result was enough to lock up the title. Houston owns the tiebreaker over Texas after winning nine of 13 meetings this season.
The payoff is a spot in the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series against the White Sox, with Game 1 set for Tuesday at Daikin Park at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m.
CT on Peacock and NBCSN. It’s a matchup Houston handled well during the regular season.
This marks the ninth postseason trip in the last 10 seasons for a franchise that has piled up division titles, pennants and championships over that stretch. The Astros have won eight AL West titles since 2017, captured four AL pennants and taken two World Series crowns, in 2017 and 2022. They have not won a playoff game since Game 5 of the 2023 AL Championship Series against the Rangers.
The road back was messy early. Houston was 1-9 on its first road trip, and the injuries started stacking up almost immediately. During that stretch, Brown and Cristian Javier went down with shoulder strains, Tatsuya Imai landed on the injured list with arm fatigue, and Peña was sidelined with a hamstring strain.
By May, the list had grown even longer. Carlos Correa, Joey Loperfido, Jake Meyers and Yainer Diaz were all on the injured list, along with Brown, Imai, Javier, Peña and Hader, who spent the first two months recovering from a biceps injury. At one point, as many as 16 players were on the injured list.
Even with all that turnover, the Astros kept climbing once the roster started to come together. The returns of Brown, Peña and Hader in the middle of the summer gave the club a much-needed boost.
Yordan Alvarez was the constant. Limited to 48 games last season because of a hand injury and a sprained ankle, the slugger came out firing this year. He hit 42 home runs and was on track to win the AL batting title while earning AL Player of the Month honors for March/April and again in July.
Houston dropped 6 1/2 games back after sitting at 20-31 on May 21, but by Aug. 1 the Astros were back where they have so often been over the last decade: on top of the division. That came after an 11-2 win over the Rangers on July 31.
The front office also changed course late in the year, with the club parting ways with general manager Dana Brown on Aug. 24. The Astros answered by going 8-5 over a 13-game stretch with no off days, a run that included a series win at Yankee Stadium and three wins in four games against the White Sox, who finished as the AL Central leaders.
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White Sox Draw The Playoff Test Fans Were Hoping To Avoid
The Astros will spend the first round of October dealing with a familiar opponent, one that already gave them trouble in the regular season. Chicago locked up a postseason spot and set up a best-of-three Wild Card series beginning Sept. 29, while Houstons division title brings home-field advantage into the matchup.
For Astros fans, the twist is hard to miss: the White Sox won the season series and now get the chance to test whether that edge still matters when the games tighten up. Houston has the setting it wanted, but the draw also hands it a team that has already shown it can hang with the division champs, making this one of the more intriguing early-round pairings on the playoff board. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Grab Back AL West Control With One Huge Problem Left
A lopsided win over the Athletics gave Houston exactly what it needed on a day with plenty on the line, as the Astros kept control of their own path in the American League West heading into the final game of the regular season. Hayden Wesneski supplied the kind of steady start that can settle a tense clubhouse, working seven innings and allowing one earned run while the offense backed him with a barrage of power.
The Astros hit five home runs in the victory, with Jeremy Pea going deep twice and Yordan Alvarez adding one of his own in the 13-2 rout. The result leaves Houston in first place because of the tiebreaker, but the margin for error is still gone, and everything now turns to one last game with the division still hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Playoff Path Just Came Into Focus With One Big Twist
The playoff picture in the American League took another turn when the Chicago White Sox locked in a postseason berth, setting up a possible October meeting with either Houston or Texas. For the Astros, that means their path now looks a little clearer, even if the bracket still carries some uncertainty. The White Sox are back in the postseason for the first time since 2020, and their opponent will be one of the division winners that finished ahead of them in the bracket.
Houstons side of the equation is tied to the bigger AL West race, with the Astros and Rangers both sitting in position to determine who gets the next step in the bracket. The matchup details, including game times and broadcast information, are now part of the picture, but the real tension is still in the waiting - the Astros know their October opponent could be set soon, and the brackets one big twist is whether it ends up being Chicago or Texas standing in their way. [Read more 🡒]