Eliminated Astros feel pain of first playoff absence since ’16

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Houston Astros’ streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances ended Saturday night in the second inning of their 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

The Astros took the field at Angel Stadium with a glimmer of hope, as the Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers were tied going into the ninth inning at Progressive Field.

But with Christian Walker at the plate in the top of the second in Anaheim, Guardians outfielder C.J. Kayfus was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give Cleveland a 3-2 win over the Rangers, clinching the final American League playoff berth for the Guardians and eliminating the Astros.

This will be the first time the Astros (86-75) miss the postseason since 2016. They made seven straight trips to the AL Championship Series from 2017-23, winning four pennants and a pair of World Series titles (2017 and 2022) during that stretch.

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

In fact, Sunday’s season finale against the Angels will be only the fourth game since the start of the 2015 season in which the Astros will be out of playoff contention.

“I want to apologize to the fans in Houston for falling short. It’s not what they’re accustomed to,” Astros infielder Carlos Correa said. “They’re used to watching playoff baseball, and they look forward to that every single year.

“We were not able to accomplish that this year, but we promise our fans in Houston that this offseason is going to be one of a lot of hard work. We’re going to get better, and next year is going to be one to remember.”

Houston began the season without two of its best players from 2024, as third baseman Alex Bregman signed a free-agent deal with the Boston Red Sox and outfielder Kyle Tucker was traded to the Chicago Cubs.

The Astros lost their top slugger, Yordan Alvarez, to injuries for much of the season and several other key players — closer Josh Hader, shortstop Jeremy Peña and third baseman Isaac Paredes among them — to injuries down the stretch.

Houston was still in the hunt for a fifth straight AL West title, tied with Seattle entering a big three-game series against the Mariners on Sept. 19. But the Astros were swept at home by Seattle and lost two more games to the Athletics — they did not hold a lead in any of the five consecutive losses — to fall five games back in the division race.

They had a chance to pull into a three-way tie with the Guardians and Detroit Tigers on Friday night, but failed to hold an early 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 to the Angels to remain a game behind the two AL Central teams.

Cleveland and Detroit both hold tiebreakers over Houston, so the Astros needed to win their final two games and have either the Guardians or Tigers lose their last two to extend their playoff streak. But then Cleveland and Detroit both won on Saturday to punch their tickets to the postseason.

“That’s a meeting, that’s a conversation that you don’t want to have with your team,” Houston manager Joe Espada said of his postgame address to the club. “This is my eighth season, and this has never happened. But it happened today.

“I told this team I’m really proud of them, because we’ve gone through a lot. We have guys who have no business being on the field right now, who are banged-up, but they’re playing through pain, through injuries, because they want it for our city, they want it for their teammates, and that’s the heart of a champion, right?”

Walker, who hit two solo homers Saturday night, believes Houston’s absence from the postseason will be an aberration, not the start of a downward spiral for the franchise.

“This stinks. It hurts, for sure. We poured a lot of energy and emotion, and blood, sweat and tears into the season,” Walker said. “I felt like with this team, there’s a lot of special moments that could happen in this room, so it sucks not to be able to show that on the postseason stage.

“There were some unfortunate injuries and things that happened along the way, but that’s part of it. Good teams find a way, and we almost did. We were close but not good enough. But even with the lineup and the roster we have, I think this group can win a World Series, for sure.”