Tuesday night the Houston Astros clinched their fourth straight AL West title and their seventh in the last eight years. The Astros are assured of finishing the season with a worse record than the AL Central winning Cleveland Guardians and the AL East winner (New York Yankees or Baltimore Orioles), so they are locked in as the AL's No. 3 seed. They'll play in the Wild Card Series next week.
The Astros are wrapped up their regular-season home schedule Wednesday afternoon against the Houston Astros (GameTracker) and, at the start of the fourth inning, third baseman Alex Bregman was removed from the game so he could get an ovation from the fans at Minute Maid Park.
Here is his exit from the Wednesday's regular-season home finale:
Astros fans give Alex Bregman a warm ovation as he comes off the field for potentially the last time during a regular season home game 👏 pic.twitter.com/NtJudpqG8k
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 25, 2024
Bregman will be a free agent after the season and Wednesday could be his final regular-season home game in Houston. The Astros will host the Wild Card Series next week, so it wasn't Bregman's final home game at Minute Maid Park, but it was manager Joe Espada's last chance to pull him mid-inning so he could get an ovation. Bregman's not leaving a postseason game, obviously.
Now 30, the Astros selected Bregman with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft. He made his MLB debut in July 2016 and was part of Houston's World Series-winning teams in 2017 and 2022. Bregman is a two-time All-Star who finished second behind Mike Trout in the 2019 AL MVP voting. He entered Thursday hitting .257/.314/.449 with 26 home runs, his most since hitting 41 in 2019.
Utility man Grae Kessinger replaced Bregman and took over at second base, with Shay Whitcomb sliding from second to third. Whitcomb has had a nightmare game at the hot corner, committing three errors and having another misplay scored a fielder's choice rather than a fourth error. Fortunately for the Astros, the game is meaningless. They're locked into their postseason spot.
Astros GM Dana Brown recently said he will "engage and talk about" a Bregman extension with agent Scott Boras. Houston does have a recent history of letting star homegrown players leave as free agents (Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel, George Springer, etc.), so Bregman remaining in Houston is not guaranteed.
