The Houston Astros clinched their place in the playoffs on Tuesday night with a win against the Mariners securing a fourth straight division title.
Astros Clinch AL West
After a brutal MLB season, the Astros finally clinched a playoff birth along with their fourth AL West title this week, with just four games left to spare in the season.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing for the Astros this season though and after a slow start to the season, first-year head coach Joe Espada recalled telling his players that they could recover and win the division yet again.
“We got this,” he told the players. “We are a good team. We’ve just got to go on a hot streak and we’ll turn this around.”
“And we did,” he said.
WE OWN THE WEST.
The 2024 American League West Champions pic.twitter.com/C50Q9fT1dY
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 25, 2024
The Astros were as far as ten games behind the Mariners early in the summer, but they were able to turn things around with an impressive run into the latter stages of the regular season.
“I never lost hope,” Espada said. “But when it comes to winning, you know how to win and you’ve got the right ingredients to win, you don’t mess that up. You’ve got to protect it and that’s what we’ve done.”
The last time a side won four AL West division title’s in a row was 1971-75, with Oakland the last team to complete the impressive feat.
Houston sealed its fourth title in a row with a tight win against the Mariners, as Jason Heyward hit the all important home run to secure a post-season birth.
Tuesday night’s win snapped a three game losing streak for the Astros and they couldn’t have left it much later in the season to secure a spot in the playoffs but as usual, Houston came good when it mattered most.
The Astros now look forward to the playoffs which get underway next month, with the first match coming on October 5th once all the Wild Card teams are confirmed.
