Houston Astros<\/a> entered Thursday with 10 games left in their regular season and numerous playoff-related scenarios still in play in an American League field that could hold some drama in the final days.<\/p>\nEntering Thursday, the Astros were tied atop the AL West with the Rangers, at 76-76, with essentially a one-game lead due to holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
The Astros were 1\u00bd games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians for the No. 2 seed in the AL. They were also on the cusp of falling out of the AL playoff picture altogether, due to all three teams in wild-card slots\u00a0\u2014 the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox\u00a0\u2014 owning better records.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The Rays, Yankees and Red Sox, the top three teams in the AL East, hold the league\u2019s three best records. No other team entered Thursday with more than 78 wins. Six teams, including the Astros, had between 75 and 78 wins. Three others with 71 or 72 wins were still mathematically alive.<\/p>\n
It raises the possibility of postseason tiebreakers coming into play. So, entering Thursday, here is where the Astros stood in head-to-head tiebreakers against other teams still alive in the AL playoff race and in striking position of Houston:<\/p>\n
Cleveland Guardians (78-75)<\/p>\n
Standing: 1st in AL Central
Ahead\/behind Astros: 1\u00bd games ahead
Tiebreaker: Astros, with 4-2 record in season series<\/p>\n
Chicago White Sox (77-75)<\/p>\n
Standing: 2nd in AL Central
Ahead\/behind Astros: 1 game ahead
Tiebreaker: Astros, with 5-2 record in season series<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers (76-76)<\/p>\n
Standing: 2nd in AL West
Ahead\/behind Astros: Tied
Tiebreaker: Astros, with 9-4 record in season series<\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays (76-77)<\/p>\n
Standing: 4th in AL East
Ahead\/behind Astros: \u00bd-game behind
Tiebreaker: TBA. The Astros and Blue Jays tied 3-3 in the season series. As a result, the tiebreaker would become each team\u2019s intra-division record. The Astros are 22-24 against AL West teams and six games left against the Mariners and A\u2019s. The Blue Jays had a 25-24 record against AL East teams and three intra-division games left against the Orioles.<\/p>\n
Baltimore Orioles (75-78)<\/p>\n
Standing: 5th in AL East
Ahead\/behind Astros: 1\u00bd games behind
Tiebreaker: Orioles, with 5-1 record in season series<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Detroit Tigers (72-80)<\/p>\n
Standing: 3rd in AL Central
Ahead\/behind Astros: 4 games behind
Tiebreaker: Astros, with 5-2 record in season series<\/p>\n
Minnesota Twins (71-81)<\/p>\n
Standing: 4th in AL Central
Ahead\/behind Astros: 5 games behind
Tiebreaker: Twins, with 4-2 record in season series<\/p>\n
Seattle Mariners (71-82)<\/p>\n
Standing: 3rd in AL West
Ahead\/behind Astros: 5\u00bd games behind
Tiebreaker: Mariners, with 9-2 record in season series (and two left to play)<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
If the Astros were to end in a three-way tie for a playoff spot, the tiebreaker would be more complicated. Winning percentage in intra-division games would be the first step, a reason it would behoove the Astros \u2014 who are 22-24 against AL West teams \u2014 to play well in their final six divisional games against the Mariners and A\u2019s next week.<\/p>\n
The more obvious reason, of course, is those games might decide Houston\u2019s attempt to win the AL West. In a muddled middle of the American League, that is still the Astros\u2019 clearest route to a postseason spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers’ Evan Carter, right, scores as Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz handles the throw during the fourth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-439324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}