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Astros' worst case playoff scenario was just made official in unbelievable fashion

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Seattle Mariners v Houston Astros / Houston Astros/GettyImages

If something could have gone wrong, it has for the Houston Astros in the second half of 2025. Key players failed to perform to expectations and/or got hurt and the Astros saw their sizable lead in the AL West erode away. Another ill-timed slump combined with a heater from the Mariners resulted in the division title being lost and Houston having to play for their playoff lives this weekend.

To stay alive for the postseason, in addition to handling their business against the Angels which decidedly did not get off to a good start on Friday, the Astros had to get a little bit of help from the Tigers and Guardians. Unfortunately, Detroit punched their ticket to the playoffs earlier on Saturday which left Houston hoping Cleveland would fall on their faces against the Rangers and provide an opening for the Astros on the final day of the season.

Instead, Houston was eliminated from the 2025 postseason after a walk-off HBP (yes, you read that correctly) by the Guardians.

Astros playoff hopes were crushed by a walk-off HBP of all things

You can fully expect the tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists to be out in force. The Rangers being the team to fall apart in the ninth inning is going to have some fans wondering if Texas took a dive on purpose to knock the Astros out of the playoff field. It feels like they could have found an easier route if that was their plan, but it is funny to think about when the pain of elimination is ebbing.

With that, the Astros are out. They forfeited controlling their own destiny and got punished severely for it. The Guardians got hot at just the right time and the Tigers were only slightly less worse than Houston down the stretch. Now the Astros will be watching the postseason from their couches and figure out how to never let this happen again.

Regardless of how the weekend went, this was going to be a disappointing end of the season for the Astros. After being in the driver's seat for so long, poor play and bad luck put Houston in the unfamiliar position on the outside looking in. Unfortunately, they won't get to redeem themselves in the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.