With the American League West title teetering on a sub-.500 record, the Houston Astros control their fate over the Texas Rangers.
The three American League Wild Card teams have been decided, so now it's all up to either the Houston Astros or the Texas Rangers to take the final spot.
A division winner has yet to be decided, but it's already confirmed that for the first time in MLB history, the winner of the AL West will make the playoffs at or below .500.
Both the Astros and Rangers are 80-81, so no matter what happens on Sunday, Sept. 27, the best record either team could finish with is 81-81.
For a team to finish exactly .500 and make the playoffs is a bit perplexing, to say the least, but that's how the current format plays out, and it'll be either the Astros or Rangers who benefit from it here in 2026.
Who has the tiebreaker between the Astros and Rangers?
Houston dominated the season series, and it wasn't even close. The Rangers were able to get a win from time to time, but other than that, the Astros made sure they left no doubt should it come down to a head-to-head tiebreaker.
- May 15: Astros win 2-0 (1-0)
- May 16: Astros win 4-1 (2-0)
- May 17: Rangers win 8-0 (2-1)
- May 25: Astros win 9-0 (3-1)
- May 26: Rangers win 10-7 (3-2)
- May 27: Astros win 4-3 (4-2)
- May 28: Astros win 5-1 (5-2)
- July 10: Rangers win 7-3 (5-3)
- July 11: Astros win 9-3 (6-3)
- July 12: Rangers win 6-5 (6-4)
- July 31: Astros win 11-2 (7-4)
- Aug. 1: Astros win 5-4 (8-4)
- Aug. 2: Astros win 7-3 (9-4)
That final series of the year determined everything because if the roles had been reversed, that would mean the Rangers would've won the season series, 7-6. In the end, the Astros had a few two-game advantages throughout the year that they were able to turn into a much bigger lead thanks to them outscoring the Rangers, 23-9, from July 31-Aug. 1.
Rangers can still make the playoffs
Thankfully for the Rangers, they still have the same exact record as the Astros, so there's a world where the tiebreaker doesn't come into play at all.
Houston has a first pitch scheduled for five minutes prior to the Rangers game, so there will be plenty of scoreboard watching on Sunday, Sept. 27.
If the Astros lose and the Rangers win, Texas makes the playoffs over Houston.
If the Rangers win, but the Astros do as well, Houston makes the playoffs over Texas.
Houston's magic number is one, so all it'll take is an Astros win or a Rangers loss to cut that down to zero.
