Astros’ Postseason Streak Ended in Season with Dubious Distinction in MLB History

The Houston Astros fell out of first place in the AL West. But they weren’t the only team that lost a division lead.

Detail photo of Houston Astros spring training cap. during workouts at spring training. | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

For the Houston Astros, the 2025 season was the end of a treasured run for the franchise.

While the Astros won 87 games and finished second in the AL West, Houston missed the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season, when they won 84 games and finished in third place in the division.

From 2017-24, Houston went to the playoffs for eight straight seasons. The Astros won seven division crowns, went to the ALCS seven straight times, won the AL pennant four times and won the World Series title twice in 2017 and 2022.

Now, the Astros are attempting to reboot that success this offseason. But, as it turns out, Houston’s fall from grace wasn’t an outlier in 2025. It was the norm.

Houston’s Dubious Distinction in 2025

Erik Williams-Imagn Images

At one point, the Astros were in total control of the AL West. On July 1, they had a seven-game lead on the field, despite a roster full of injuries to both the pitching staff and to slugger Yordan Alvarez. But the Seattle Mariners slowly chipped away at that lead. By the end of July, the Astros were up five games. By Aug. 12, Seattle had the division tied up.

Houston managed to ring the lead back up to four games by Sept. 3. But, in a cruel twist, Houston lost the division lead and its shot at a playoff berth in one weekend at home. The Mariners came to town. When they arrived, the two teams were tied. By the time Seattle left, the Astros were three games back and had no time to recover.

But Houston wasn’t the only team that blew a significant division lead in 2025. MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, one of the game’s foremost historians and statisticians, wrote that each of the six divisions had at least one team that led the division by at least 5.5 games and lost that lead. She credited the Elias Sports Bureau with the stat and noted that it was the first time it happened in MLB’s six-division era, which started in 1994.

It was a tumultuous season for the Astros that has blended into a fork-in-the-road moment for the franchise. It seems that the jobs of both manager Joe Espada and Dana Brown are on the line going into 2026. The franchise hasn’t shown any signs of pursuing their top free agent, pitcher Framber Valdez. Instead, they’ve opted to go after cheaper options like Ryan Weiss and Mike Burrows. The latter, Burrows, cost them two top prospects in a three-team trade.

Whether those moves lead to a playoff berth in 2026 remains in question.