For the first time since 2016, there will be no October baseball in Houston. This ends one of modern baseball’s most dominant and controversial eras that included two World Series titles and seven straight ALCS trips. The final blow came on Saturday, September 27. The Astros needed to win their last two games and get some help. They didn’t get it. The Cleveland Guardians won their season decider game against the Rangers with a walk-off 3-2 win, clinching the final playoff spot and officially eliminating the Astros from contention. Houston simply crumbled when it mattered most by losing six of their last seven games. A series loss to the last-place Oakland Athletics and a sweep by the Seattle Mariners sealed their fate. And baseball fans are piling on their misery with their comments online.

The 2025 Astros season can be divided into two halves. In the first half, they looked like their usual dominant selves and held a commanding seven-game lead in the AL West with a 55-35 record on July 6. And from that day forward, they completely fell apart, posting a 30-40 record over their final 70 games.

The main reason was a wave of injuries. No team in baseball lost more players to the injured list. Key slugger Yordan Alvarez was limited to just 48 games. The starting rotation was decimated, with Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier missing huge chunks of the season. Even three of the team’s four 2025 All-Stars, including shortstop Jeremy Peña and closer Josh Hader, missed significant time.

And the departures of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman left a massive hole that was never filled. On the mound, ace Framber Valdez struggled badly down the stretch, and after winning 13 consecutive games, Valdez was  1-7 with a 1.51 WHIP and 6.16 ERA in his last 10 starts.

Now, with Houston out, the American League playoff picture is set. The Seattle Mariners won the AL West, earning a first-round bye. The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays will battle for the AL East crown. The loser becomes the top Wild Card team and will face the Boston Red Sox. The other two teams are the Detroit Tigers and the red-hot Cleveland Guardians.

While the Astros front office will find out the reason and how to come back stronger, fans across the league have a very different take on the team’s downfall. For them, it’s a story about long-awaited karma.

A villain’s downfall… “Baseball is Finally Healing”

It seems like they were waiting, and as soon as the Astros were officially out, rival fans unleashed years of frustration. The most common thread was: “they forgot to cheat”.

And we can’t argue as well, considering the team’s infamous 2017 sign-stealing scandal. An MLB investigation confirmed the Astros used a camera to steal signs during their championship season. Since MLB granted the players immunity for their testimony, many felt they never faced real consequences. For them, this 2025 collapse feels like perfect justice the league failed to deliver. So one fan repeated the same feeling with some more curiosity, “Damn, what’d they do in 2017 that was different?”

The deep distrust from the original scandal again didn’t leave the Astros’ World Series in 2022 alone. As one fan said, “I’m 100% serious when I say investigate 2022.” So, the fan is literally trying to say they can not win if they don’t cheat. While no evidence of wrongdoing in 2022 exists, the original sin has permanently damaged their credibility.

The mockery also included references to the more sensational theories. As one fan said, “LMAOOO no buzzers no playoffs 😭😭😭”. This refers to the theory that Astros players wore electronic buzzers under their jerseys. The idea exploded after Jose Altuve clutched his jersey after a walk-off homer in the 2019 ALCS, telling teammates not to rip it off. MLB’s investigation never found evidence of buzzers, but the image stuck.

Finally, for fans of the other 29 teams, Houston’s elimination is a collective sigh of relief. As one said, “Baseball is finally healing”. For them, the news of Houston’s being out of the playoffs and the small-market Cleveland Guardians taking their place restores a sense of integrity to the game.