Astros clinch postseason berth as World Series title defense continues

There was no World Series hangover for the Houston Astros this season. On Friday, the defending champions punched their ticket back to October with a dominant 11-3 win against the Los Angeles Angels.

Yuli Gurriel took the drama out of the clincher early with a pair of historic home runs. He opened the scoring with a first-inning grand slam against Angels starter Andrew Heaney, before cracking it wide open with a two-run homer two innings later. Gurriel finished the game with seven RBI, which is the most by an Astros player since J.R. Towles in 2007.

On the hill, Houston rode the right arm of Gerrit Cole, who’s offseason addition helped solidify an already dominant rotation. Cole pitched seven innings, allowing three runs while striking out 12.

Rebuilt for success

This will mark Houston’s third trip to the postseason in the last four seasons. More impressively, they have a chance to win 100 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.

The long rebuild preceding this run of success has proven fruitful. The Astros have gone from six straight losing seasons to perennial World Contenders after putting together a solid core that includes All-Stars like Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa.

Astros still have work left to do

While the Astros postseason status this season has never been in doubt, the AL West still is. The Astros have a solid grip right now with a four-game lead, but the Oakland Athletics have been a relentless force all season.

The A’s figure to keep the pressure on over the final week as they look to win the division or potentially secure home field in the AL Wild Card game. The good news for the Astros is that they’ll face nothing but under .500 teams to finish the season. That includes a final weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The AL West is Houston’s to lose. But MLB’s unpredictable nature keeps us from assuming anything.

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