Astros raring to fight for division with make-or-break homestand ahead

ATLANTA -- There are two weeks remaining in the regular season, but the Astros’ upcoming homestand against the Rangers and Mariners -- the two teams that they’re locked in a dogfight with in the American League West and two of the hottest teams in the Major Leagues -- will go a long way in determining their postseason fate.

Houston wasn’t able to finish off a three-game sweep of Atlanta on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park after starter Framber Valdez gave up five earned runs in four-plus innings of work in an 8-3 loss. With the Mariners beating the Angels on Sunday, the Astros dropped out of first place for the first time since June 2.

The goal now for the Astros is to make the playoffs whatever way they can.

“You can sit here and nitpick and be like, ‘Oh, we should have done this differently,’ but we have a really good chance to win the division,” first baseman Christian Walker said. “We have a really good opportunity to make the postseason. We control our own destiny, and I think if you told us at the end of March that, 'With two weeks to go, you’re going to be right there at the top of the division with a real chance for the postseason,' I don’t think we’d have it any other way.”

The Astros’ second-half slide -- the club led the division by six games on July 23 -- has them in danger of not winning the division in a full season for the first time since 2016, which is the last time they didn’t make the postseason. The Rangers, who play at Daikin Park for three games beginning Monday, have won six of 10 this year against the Astros, who have to sweep to win the season series and the tiebreaker over Texas.

“The games we play [earlier] during the season don’t matter now,” infielder Mauricio Dubón said. “We’ve got playoff baseball on this coming homestand, and it’s going to be fun.”

The Rangers, who lost to the Mets on Sunday, are two games behind the Astros for the third Wild Card spot. All ties will be resolved mathematically, with head-to-head record being the first tiebreaker. Here is a full explanation of the tiebreaker system.

“We like our chances, for sure,” Walker said. “We’re familiar with these teams; we played them a lot this year. You know where to give them credit. You know where to try to take advantage. I think it’s going to be an awesome homestand. This is why you stay motivated all year, you work hard and prepare the right way. The end of the year comes down to stuff like this, and it’s going to be exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Mariners come to Houston to wrap up the home schedule next weekend at Daikin Park before the Astros travel to face the A’s and the Angels to end the season. Houston and Seattle have split their 10 meetings this season, so the winner of that final series will have the tiebreaker.

“We’ve got to take care of our business,” Dubón said. “We’re in a good spot. We’ve got control of our own destiny, and we have to win and play good.”

The Astros came into Atlanta in a collective slump before scoring 20 runs in three games against the Braves, including going 12-for-25 with runners in scoring position in the series. That gives manager Joe Espada some hope his club can carry that offensive momentum into the series against Texas.

“We hit balls hard today,” he said. “Moving forward, we’ve got two big series ahead of us, so if we can carry some of those at-bats into the next series, we’re going to find ourselves in good shape.”

The Astros could be without Jose Altuve to begin the series. He was removed from Saturday’s win over the Braves with a sore right foot and didn’t play Sunday, though Espada said postgame he was available. Regardless, Walker said Houston’s “high-power” offense will be ready.

“The key is staying within ourselves, trusting each other, not trying to do too much and letting the game come to us,” he said. “Just stuff we’ve been saying all year, but executing is much different than just being aware of it. … It’s some pitching staffs that we’re familiar with -- starters, ‘pen. There are some good arms we’re going to face coming up, but this is a good offense. We’ll take our chances.”