The AL West Winner Will Make MLB History for All the Wrong Reasons
Jeff Passan noted that whoever wins the AL West will have the worst full-season record of a playoff team in MLB history.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, whoever survives the American League West tie between the and Texas Rangers on Sunday will officially hold the worst full-season record of any playoff team in MLB history.
Both Texas and Houston are sitting at a perfectly mediocre 80-81 entering game 162. The winner does not just get a participation trophy, they get the number three seed and the right to host the in a three-game wild card series starting Tuesday.
Rewarding a potentially 81-81 or 80-82 team with home-field advantage in October is the kind of idea that sounds like it was approved in a conference room where nobody has paid for parking in 20 years. But the Astros control their own destiny thanks to a 9-4 season series tiebreaker over the Rangers.
For anyone eyeing the Sunday slate, Houston is in Sacramento facing Oakland Athletics reliever Brady Basso, while the Astros are rolling with a mystery starter. Texas takes the mound in Minnesota, sending MacKenzie Gore to face Dean Kremer. Gore is sitting on a 4.59 ERA over 170 innings this year, which perfectly encapsulates the chaotic, survival-mode energy of this division.
Over in the National League, the final wild card spot is a straight-up stress test between the and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Philadelphia holds a one-game lead, but Arizona owns the tiebreaker. If the Phillies lose and the Diamondbacks win, Arizona steals the bid and a flight to face the .
Philadelphia is not leaving anything to chance, sending co-ace Zack Wheeler to the mound against All-Star Nick Martinez and the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays. Arizona is throwing Michael Soroka against the , who already locked up the top wild card spot and are just playing for vibes.
By Sunday evening, the bracket will be locked. We will either get a historic collapse or a perfectly fitting end to a deeply unserious AL West race, and whoever survives gets to pretend their regular season record never happened.