For the third time in as many weeks the Astros will face off against the Mariners in what is becoming an increasingly tight postseason race. By rights the young team from Seattle doesn’t really belong in the race considering that they’re supposed to be at the beginning of a rebuild period. However, a surprisingly strong bullpen and a surgical offense with a propensity for the clutch hit has propelled them into the thick of the October hunt.
Still, they do have some work to do if they expect to be playing a month from now. They leap-frogged the A’s after sweeping the Diamondbacks over the weekend to run their winning streak to 5 in a row, and are now just 3 games back from the second WC spot.