The Houston Astros’ celebration of their seventh American League West title since 2017 will have to wait, as the Seattle Mariners staved off a division-clinching loss at Minute Maid Park.
Heading into Monday, the Astros held a magic number of two to secure the division. A magic number is determined by a combination of the leading team’s wins and the closest rival’s losses. Houston had hoped to seal both a victory and a Mariners’ defeat during this home series, but their next opportunity will come on Tuesday in the second game of the series.
Given the team’s rocky start to the 2024 season, clinching the division might have seemed improbable. Under first-year manager Joe Espada, the Astros were below .500 through the first half of the season. Their lowest point came on June 18, when they lost to the league-worst Chicago White Sox, trailing Seattle by 10 games in the standings.
Since that loss, Houston turned its season around with a 15-6 record through July 19, when they claimed first place. Meanwhile, Seattle’s 8-16 slump helped the Astros’ rise to the top.
Winning the division guarantees Houston a home playoff game, but whether that will be in the Wild Card Series or the Division Series is still undecided. They currently trail the second-seeded Cleveland Guardians by five games, needing a strong finish and Cleveland losses to improve their chances for a bye to the ALDS. Coincidentally, the Astros and Guardians will face each other in the final three games of the regular season, starting Friday.
If they can’t catch Cleveland, the Astros would enter the Wild Card Series with the worst record among division winners, facing the third wild-card team in a best-of-three series starting on Oct. 1. The winner would move on to face Cleveland in the ALDS.
A Monday celebration would have been dampened anyway, depending on the status of Yordan Alvarez, who suffered a right knee contusion in Sunday’s game against the Angels. Alvarez was sidelined after sliding into second base, and manager Espada said he was “pretty sore” and was scheduled for imaging.
On a different note, Monday also marked the final time the Astros wore their Space City City Connect uniforms, first introduced in the 2022 season.
