The Houston Astros who were formerly leading the AL West division have now faced embarrassment. What was a golden opportunity for them to stay on top, turned into a meager handover of the 1st position this weekend. The 3-2 loss against the Kansas City Royals turned out to be more than a mere defeat. 

With just a week left in the MLB regular season 2023 conclusion, there has been stiffening competition among the AL West teams. Houston, known to hold the top spot for long, after suffering a sweep from the worst teams in MLB has gifted their division rival a playoff top spot on a silver plate. The humiliating drop in ranking to the second position makes their own players think, “It’s been weird. It’s been frustrating”. 

Houston Astros Disappointingly Giving Away Wins to Competitors

Despite being one of the favorite teams to win the World Series, they now stand as runners-up. This becomes a tad bit more ridiculous when the loss comes to the Royals who stand last in AL Central holding a 54-102 record. Addressing the miserable weekend in their home, the Astros manager Dusty Baker said, “It’s like Groundhog Day..”. @BaseballDoesntExist tweeted about the Astros drawing attention to their abject plight wrote, “The Astros are 2-7 again the Athletics and Royals this month”. Is there any way to justify the Astros’ performance against the Royals? 

On the other hand, the Astros are 3-12 over their past 15 games, including a 2-7 mark against the last-place Royals and A’s, who are 68 and 68 games out respectively of first place, respectively. Sunday was Houston’s last regular-season home game, and the club capped off a 39-42 season at Minute Maid Park, the first time they’ve lost at home since going 38-43 in 2014.

With that, one of the seasoned players of the Astros expressed his humiliation about this fiasco. Alex Bregman, the veteran third baseman emoted, “It feels like we’re playing terrible. That’s it. We’re not playing good” while finishing 0 for 3.

Their contender Kansas City Royals’ manager, Matt Quatraro added with humility, “We know where we are as far as our youth and our inexperience. There’s nobody that knows exactly what the timetable is but these kinds of wins are definitely going to go a long way for our guy’s confidence.” One may wonder how this fiasco played out for the power Rangers. 

Texas Rangers’ Surprising Turnaround

Earlier this season the Rangers were at a below-par 4-16 stretch dropping them out of first place and eventually out of the postseason picture. However, they recuperated commendably with Sunday’s win marking the first time the Royals have won nine out of their last ten games since July 2017. It also marked the fourth consecutive series win for the Royals dating back to 2019.

Read More : In Massive Texas Battle, Can the Astros Beat the Rangers to Win the Division or Will There Be a Dark Horse From 2315 Miles Away

The Rangers also swept the Seattle Mariners this weekend, leaving Houston winding up this year’s final home game of the regular season. What seemed to be a tailspin for the Rangers, turned around as they claim the first position on AL West. Quite a reversal in fate in a matter of a week!

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