HOUSTON — After falling 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners in mid-June, the Houston Astros were undoubtedly behind.
But first-year manager Joe Espada tried to remind his team every day that it was far from defeated.
“'We've done this,' he told the players. “'We're a good team. We just have to put on a great performance and we'll turn this around.'”
Then the champagne-soaked Espada, after a brief pause, continued.
“And we did that,” he said.
The Astros clinched their fourth straight American League West title with a 4-3 win over the Mariners on Tuesday night, overcoming a poor start to reach the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.
“We got off to a really slow start and we had to work hard all year for this,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “And the guys just put their heads down, never stopped believing and kept the faith and kept moving forward.”
The Astros are the first team to win the AL West in four consecutive seasons, after Oakland won five in a row from 1971 to '75. This is also the first time they have won four consecutive division titles, after winning three in a row on two previous occasions (1997–99 and 2017–19).
And it's the seventh AL West crown in eight seasons for the Astros. They've only been beaten once in that span, by Oakland, when the 2020 season was shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 18, Houston was 7-19 and a season-high 10 games behind Seattle. But the Astros won the next seven games to take a 13-2 lead and by July 5, their record was 46-42.
They overtook the Mariners for first place in mid-August and cruised to their latest division title with a 79-53 mark after that dreadful 26-game stretch.
The Astros overcame numerous injuries and returned to the postseason in their first year under Espada, who was hired as manager for the first time after Dusty Baker retired.
“I never lost hope,” Espada said. “But when it comes to winning, you know how to win and you have the right elements to win, you don't screw it up. You have to play it safe, and that's what we did.”
Houston's rotation was decimated by injuries early on, with José Urquidy and Cristian Javier both undergoing Tommy John surgery in June, and Framber Valdéz out of action for most of April with elbow inflammation.
Injuries caused the Astros to add Ronel Blanco and rookie Spencer Arrighetti to the rotation. Blanco threw a no-hitter in his season debut and is second on the team with 12 wins and a 2.88 ERA. Arrighetti has made 28 starts and was selected as the AL Rookie of the Month for August after going 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA.
Hunter Brown went 11–9 with a 3.49 ERA in his second MLB season, helping stabilize the rotation, while three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander made only 16 starts that year due to injuries.
“The young players stepped up, Hunter, Spencer, Ronell — those three guys — we definitely wouldn’t have gotten here without them,” Verlander said. “You’ve got to play a role and look, somebody steps up and does a great job and that’s why we’re here.”
But the team's problems weren't just limited to pitching. Houston struggled to find an answer at first base after releasing veteran Jose Abreu with $30.8 million remaining on his contract despite hitting .124 through June 13. The lineup went nearly three months without All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker after he fractured his right shin on a foul ball June 3.
Yet the Astros found a way to overcome those obstacles and get back to the playoffs again, as they aim for a third World Series championship after winning in 2017 and 2022.
“It's awesome,” Tucker said. “This is what you play for, to get to the postseason and get a chance at the World Series. Every year is special. You never know when you'll get this chance again or if you even will. So you just try and enjoy the moment and keep working hard.”
Houston, which has reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, captured two other pennants during that period before losing World Series matchups to Washington in 2019 and Atlanta in 2021.