Final weekend: Astros, Rangers battle for last AL spot as ten teams clinch
Graphic: Provectus Media (PM)
The final weekend of the MLB regular season has arrived with ten of the twelve postseason spots claimed and two races left to decide: the AL West title and the National League’s last wild-card berth.
In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays (96-63) have locked up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, joined in the field by the New York Yankees (92-67), Boston Red Sox (85-74), Cleveland Guardians (83-76) and Chicago White Sox (82-77).
The one division still in doubt is the AL West, where the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are tied at 79-80 with three games to play. Houston kept pace Thursday with a 7-5 win over the Athletics in West Sacramento, powered by rookie Lucas Spence’s first three major-league home runs, while Texas fell 7-2 to the Mets. The Astros own the head-to-head tiebreaker after taking the season series 9-4, so the Rangers have to finish a game ahead. Houston closes at the Athletics; Texas finishes at Minnesota.
Yordan Alvarez continues to carry the Astros’ lineup and a live AL Triple Crown chase. He is batting .316 with 41 home runs, tied with Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero for the league lead, and 102 RBIs, six back of Baltimore’s Pete Alonso.
As the bracket stands, the wild-card round would send the sixth-seeded White Sox to the third-seeded Astros and the fifth-seeded Red Sox to the fourth-seeded Yankees, with the Rays and Guardians waiting on byes.
In the National League, five spots are spoken for: the Milwaukee Brewers (100-59) clinched the NL’s No. 1 seed Thursday, joined by the Los Angeles Dodgers (97-62), Atlanta Braves (93-66), San Diego Padres (89-70) and Chicago Cubs (88-71).
The Philadelphia Phillies (87-72) hold the final wild-card spot with a magic number of two. They can punch their ticket Friday: a win over Tampa Bay combined with an Arizona loss at San Diego seals it. The Diamondbacks (85-74) have won five straight to hang around, and they own the tiebreaker over Philadelphia, so the Phillies can’t coast.
If the postseason started today, the Phillies would open at Atlanta and the Cubs would visit San Diego, with Milwaukee and Los Angeles holding byes.
In Toronto, the Blue Jays (77-82) play out the string at home against the Cincinnati Reds (74-85) starting Friday at 7:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre. Toronto was eliminated in Game 1 of a doubleheader sweep in Baltimore on Sept. 23, both losses by 4-2 scores, and has dropped three straight and five of six.
It’s been a difficult year at the plate for a club that took the 2025 World Series to Game 7. The Jays have hit a major-league-low 150 home runs with a .382 slugging percentage, though the staff’s 3.93 ERA has kept them in games. Rookie Kazuma Okamoto’s 33 home runs have more than doubled any teammate’s total and stand as the clear bright spot.
Friday’s probables: Jose Soriano (12-8, 3.72 ERA) for Toronto against Nick Lodolo (3-6, 5.04) for Cincinnati. The Reds bring power, with 204 home runs as a club, but carry a 4.84 staff ERA into the weekend.
The regular season ends Sunday, Sept. 27. The best-of-three Wild Card Series begins Tuesday, Sept. 29.