Magic Number Counter: Hard parts over, now we sit back and see who’s coming

The Twins have almost fallen out entirely, so it’s up to the Tigers and Royals

It took long enough, but the Houston Astros have won the AL West for the fourth year in a row and the seventh time of the last eight years. While it was expected by almost everyone, after the start of the season they had, no one knew if it was going to happen or not, but it did.

Let’s see who will be coming to Houston in today’s Magic Number Counter

Houston Astros (86-72): 4, Seattle Mariners (81-77): 3

It almost took the whole season, but the Astros are AL West champs. It was not the best of games for the Astros, but they got the job done against the Mariners.

Houston got the early lead when Bregman went yard in the first inning, giving them up 1-0 in the first inning, but the M’s answered right back. The first batter of the second inning, Jorge Polanco, took the second pitch he saw from Framber deep to tie the game up.

The tie didn’t last very long though as in the top of the third, the M’s would get another two runs and take the lead. The first came on a double from Randy Arozarena and the other came two batters later from Polanco.

The M’s stayed in front for the next couple innings till Houston started to crawl back and jump in front. It started with a blast from Kyle Tucker to start off the top of the fourth, putting the Astros back one run. The next came in the next inning.

After Victor Caratini singled to start off the inning, with one out, Jason Heyward would step up and blast a ball deep to right field, giving the Astros a 4-3 lead. Following this, Houston’s pitching only gave up one hit the rest of the game, leading them to a win and an AL West title.

The Astros have now locked up a playoff spot and wait to see who the final wild card team is and who will be coming to Houston for a best of three series.

Kansas City Royals (83-74): 1, Washington Nationals (69-88): 0

The Royals are fighting tooth and nail to get back that second wild card spot that they lost for themselves over the past couple of weeks. They find themselves tied record wise with the Tigers and need all the wins they can get.

The game was a shutout till extras. Both teams together combined for 13 hits, eight being from the losing team, and 21 strikeouts. There were a few times for both teams when they had opportunities to score, but neither of them would capitalize on it.

That was until the 10^th inning when the Royals final for a run across. With the runner on second to start the inning, the first batter stuck out for the Royals before Bobby Witt Jr laced a single to the Washington shortstop, who threw the ball to first on a bounce, letting the ball past the first baseman and allowing the runner to score.

Washington came to the plate in the bottom half and had a chance, but after going 1-2-3, they lost that chance, giving the Royals the 1-0 win and keeping them tied with the Tigers in the wild card.

Tampa Bay Rays (78-79): 1, Detroit Tigers (83-74): 2

With Skubal on the mound, we all knew how this game would go coming into it and that is exactly what happened.

Neither team got any runs across till the Tigers got their two in the fifth. Both of these runs came curtesy of a two-out Wenceel Parez ground-rule double, putting the Tigers up 2-0. That was all that was needed for Skubal, who went seven innings and only allowed just two hits and struck out seven.

The Rays got a run of their own in the top of the ninth off the bat of Brandon Lowe, who took a ball deep to bring them back to within one, but it wasn’t enough to get them back, falling 2-1 and keeping the Tigers in the race.

Other games that matter

Baltimore Orioles: 5, New York Yankees: 3

The first team to secure a wild card spot in the AL, the O’s have punched their ticket into the postseason with their win over the Yankees. While they still have a chance to catch the Yankees thanks to their series against each other right now, the O’s are still five games back of them and will need a miracle if they want to take it. But for now, the O’s are celebrating a playoff berth.