In recent seasons, the AL West Division has usually produced a potent division champion.
This season, the AL West is simply hoping to have a winner with a winning record.
Heading into action on Monday night, the Astros lead the division, but they’re just 75-75.
They had a better hold on the division a few days ago, but then they were swept on the weekend by the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, and the race is very much on again in the AL West.
Houston has a lot of experience competing for division titles, and that could help the Astros down the stretch.
But at the moment, there’s still a lot of work to do.
Astros vs. Rangers
The Astros enter Monday night with a one-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West standings.
As mentioned, the Astros are 75-75.
The Rangers are 74-76.
That means that both ballclubs have 12 games remaining to be played.
Technically, the Seattle Mariners are still alive, too. They’re five-games back of the Astros at a 70-80 record, but it’d likely be tough for them to pass both teams ahead of them with just a dozen games to play;.
The Astros are just 4-6 in their last 10 games, but the Rangers are 5-5 in their last 10, so they haven’t changed positioning too much.
If one team can get hot, this division is still there for the taking.
As far as clinching goes, it’ll be a while. With just one game separating these teams with 12 to play, the clinch couldn’t happen at the earliest until the start of next week — and there’s certainly a chance it goes all the way down to the final weekend of the regular season.
In a division without a dominant champ, it’d least be cool if it provided baseball fans a fun finish.
Odd Schedule Twist
One of the notable twists of this race is that the Astros and Rangers don’t play again this season.
MLB usually puts some divisional matchups down the stretch to increase drama, but there’s only so much they can do. The Astros and Rangers have already completed their season series.
The Astros still have to play the Royals, Braves, Mariners and Athletics.
The Rangers still play the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Mets and Twins.
Astros-Rangers Tiebreaker
If these teams end up with the exact same regular season record, which is possible given where they stand and the games they have remaining against other teams but none against each other, the AL West champion would be decided by a tiebreaker.
The Astros hold the tiebreaker because they took the season series between these teams.
The second-place finisher would still have a chance at the third-and-final AL Wild Card chance but wouldn’t be favored. The Guardians currently hold it at 76-74, with the Blue Jays right behind at 75-75.
How Astros’ AL West Standings Clinching Chances Look With Rangers Chasing