With a week remaining in the 2023 MLB regular season, the Texas Rangers are in the AL West driver's seat while the Houston Astros blew an enormous opportunity at home this weekend. The Rangers completed the three-game home sweep of the Seattle Mariners on Sunday (TEX 9, SEA 8) while the Astros got swept by the 102-loss Kansas City Royals (KC 6, HOU 5).
Here are the updated AL West standings following Sunday's games:
- Texas Rangers: 87-68
- Houston Astros: 85-71 (2.5 GB)
- Seattle Mariners: 84-71 (3 GB)
- Los Angeles Angels: 70-86 (17.5 GB)
- Oakland Athletics: 48-108 (39.5 GB)
Not too long ago, the Rangers were mired in an ugly 4-16 stretch that dropped them out of first place and out of the postseason picture entirely. They have rebounded very well -- Sunday's win was their 11th in the last 15 games -- including sweeping Seattle this weekend and sweeping four games from the wild card-contending Blue Jays in Toronto last week.
The Astros, meanwhile, are 3-12 in their last 15 games, including going 2-7 against the also-ran Royals and A's. Those two clubs are a combined 68 games out of first place. Sunday was Houston's final home game of the regular season, and they wrapped up the year by going 39-42 at Minute Maid Park. It is their first losing season at home since 2014 (38-43).
As for the Mariners, they went 0-6 at Globe Life Field this season and Sunday's loss dropped them to 8-14 in September. They are 3-13 against teams other than the Angels and Athletics this month. Seattle went on a 20-4 run in August and climbed into first place in the AL West for a few days. Now they're on the outside of the postseason bracket with a week to play.
By late September standards, Texas' 2.5-game lead is large, but the race is far from over. The Rangers will go to Seattle for four games at T-Mobile Park next week. Here is each club's remaining schedule:
| Astros | Mariners | Rangers | |
|---|---|---|---|
Mon., Sept. 25 | at Mariners | vs. Astros | at Angels |
Tues., Sept. 26 | at Mariners | vs. Astros | at Angels |
Weds., Sept. 27 | at Mariners | vs. Astros | at Angels |
Thurs., Sept. 28 | off-day | vs. Rangers | at Mariners |
Fri., Sept. 29 | at Diamondbacks | vs. Rangers | at Mariners |
Sat., Sept. 30 | at Diamondbacks | vs. Rangers | at Mariners |
Sun., Oct. 1 | at Diamondbacks | vs. Rangers | at Mariners |
Despite being in third place and three games back, the Mariners control their own destiny thanks to those head-to-head series with the Astros and Rangers. Go 7-0 in those last seven games and the Mariners will win the AL West, no matter what the Rangers do in Anaheim or the Astros do in Arizona. Seattle had two eight-game winning streaks just last month. Why can't they do it again?
If the Astros go 6-0, they still need the Rangers to lose at least three of their final seven games. Houston going 6-0 while Texas goes 4-3 would give them identical 91-61 records. All ties are decided mathematically now and the Astros won the season series 9-4, so they have the tiebreaker. Because of that, the Rangers' 2.5-game lead over Houston is functionally a 1.5-game lead. A tie does the Rangers no good. They need to win the division outright.
The Rangers have a magic number of five. Any combination of wins by Texas and losses by the second place team (either the Astros or Mariners depending on the day) totaling five the rest of the way clinched the AL West title for the Rangers. It would be their first division championship since 2016. Texas really took care of business this weekend. The Astros and Mariners did not, and now their division hopes are dwindling.
