Astros Showing Inability to Catch Struggling Texas Rangers

The Houston Astros have not been able to take advantage of the struggling Texas Rangers as they continue to trail in the AL West standings.

Entering Friday's slate of games, the Houston Astros trail the Texas Rangers in the American League West standings by one game. Making matters more interesting, the Seattle Mariners also sit one game back of the division lead after their hot form of play in August.

It's been a frustrating stretch of play for the Astros who haven't been able to capitalize on the poor play by the Rangers as of late.

Texas is currently in the midst of a seven game losing streak. They are 2-8 in their last 10 games and have clearly opened the door for other teams in the division to overtake them down the final stretch.

It was expected that Houston would be the team to do it, however, during the losing streak by the Rangers, the defending champions have had their struggles as well. The Astros are 4-6 over their last 10 games, losing the final two games of their series against the Boston Red Sox.

The team who has taken advantage of Texas' struggles are the Mariners. They were seven-and-a-half games back in the standings 10 days ago. Now, Seattle trails by one game. This comes after their winning streak of eight games that ended Wednesday. In August, they have a record of 16-5 with home series against the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics next.

Despite everything that has taken place in the division during August, FanGraphs still expects Houston to win the AL West.

Will they win the division is the bigger question. The Astros have pounced on the weaknesses of other teams in their division and across the major leagues. That hasn't been the case so far this season.

With the Rangers struggling at the top, Houston needs to start playing their best baseball to win the division, especially to hold off the surging Mariners.