Royals Sweep of Astros Drastically Weakens Houston's Postseason Chances
The Houston Astros' hopes to return to the postseason for the seventh straight year may be quickly evaporating before their eyes.
The Astros dropped the finale of a three-game home series 6-5 Sunday, suffering an embarrassing sweep to the Kansas City Royals, who improved their record to 54-102 on the season.
The Astros have now lost their last four series, three of which have come against the lowly Royals and Oakland Athletics (48-108). The Royals and A's are each on the cusp of posting their lowest respective win totals in a 162-game season in franchise history.
Houston has now lost nine of its last 12 games. The club currently holds the third and final American League Wild Card spot, with the Seattle Mariners trailing them by only a half-game. The Mariners and Astros will open a critical three-game series Monday, with major playoff implications. Seattle has bullied Houston this season, taking eight of ten games between the two teams. With the Mariners leading the season series 8-2, it will be impossible for the Astros to own a tiebreaker over the Mariners.
Given MLB's new rules and the elimination of playoff tiebreaker games — formerly known as "Game 163" — if two teams are tied for a playoff spot, the tie will go to the team with the greater head-to-head record. Seattle owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Houston, meaning that a tie won't suffice for the Astros. The Astros need to finish at least one game better than the Mariners, in order to return to the playoffs.
The Astros have six games remaining; the Mariners have seven. After the two teams meet for the final time — in the regular season at least — the Mariners will play four games at home against the AL-West leading Texas Rangers. The Astros will have Thursday off, before finishing their regular season over the weekend in Phoenix, as they play a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rangers have won five straight games and now lead the Astros by three games in the AL West race. Seattle is three games back of Texas.
