Reigning World Series champion Houston Astros won the AL West again.

Houston earned its second consecutive AL West title with a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, followed by Oakland A's 10-8 loss in 11 innings to the Seattle Mariners. This is the title of the eighth division in the history of the Astros franchise.

The Astros had an unexpected challenge in the second half of the Oakland A season. The Athletics had 36-36, 12 games in Houston on June 18th.

Since then, however, the A have been among the best baseball teams, sitting at 95-63. But the Astros have kept the pedal on the metal too, now the A to clinch the division with 5.5 games.

A first-round match with the Cleveland Indians awaits the ALDS Astros as they attempt to become the first team to qualify as world champions since the New York Yankees have won three straight victories in 1998 to 2000. The first game of the defense of the Astros will take place on October 5th.

The A are now officially blocked in the match against the New York Yankees.

It would appear that Oakland would delay the Houston celebration one more day, but the A later separated against the Mariners. The A's were up 8-5 at the bottom of the eighth, but Fernando Rodney allowed two in the eighth end before Blake Treinen pulled back in the ninth.

It was not all about Treinen, one of the best baseball goalkeepers this season. Third baseman Matt Chapman jumped from Ryon Healy with two outs to the bottom of the ninth, allowing Healy to go first and move Ben Gamel to second place.

Gamel scored with a single from Kyle Seager, and the As handed the division to the Astros when Chris Herrmann of the Mariners managed a circuit for the winner.

Even though it was after 2 am on the East Coast – and at 4 pm start Wednesday in Toronto – the Astros stayed up to potentially celebrate their title. And thanks to the return of the Mariners, they were able to do it.

All that remains in the playoff race of the AL is to determine who is the host of the wild card game. The Yankees now have a 2.5-game lead over the A for this honor.