AL West Final Showdown
AL West Title Will Be Decided on the Final Day of Regular Season
Anonymous
The AL West title will be decided on the final day after Houston and Texas entered the weekend tied at 79-81, and Texas’s Saturday win prevented Houston from clinching early. Houston must win its finale to control its postseason fate; if it loses, it needs Texas to lose as well, and Houston holds the tiebreaker. On Friday, Oakland beat Houston 6-5 after scoring six runs in the sixth inning, with a dropped throw by Jose Altuve at second helping spark the rally. The division champion will be the first to win a division title with a losing record in a full-length Division Era season.
Key Points
1
Altuve acknowledged he should have caught Peña’s throw, saying, “100 percent. Absolutely. Yes.” The article also reported that he had started 125 games at second base and was minus-16 in defensive runs saved.
2
Houston’s late rally fell short after Jacob Lopez limited the Astros to two hits and one run over six innings; Lopez had allowed 19 runs, including five homers, in his previous three starts.
3
The Astros entered the final week having lost 10 of their previous 14 games and had been swept by Atlanta in their last regular-season series at Daikin Park.
4
In the sixth-inning collapse, Bennett Sousa gave up three straight singles on three pitches, and Henry Bolte’s two-run triple off AJ Blubaugh helped put Houston in a 5-1 hole.
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