The one-game lead did not survive Tuesday.
Texas lost 6-3 to the New York Mets at Globe Life Field, and Houston blanked Seattle 7-0 on the West Coast. Both clubs finished the night at 78-79 with five games left, the Associated Press accounts carried by CBS Sports reported. The standings line is new. The tiebreaker is not.
Houston won the season series 9-4. If the Rangers and Astros end the year with the same record, the Astros take the American League West, Heavy.com's overnight division note and Dallas Sports Journal's final-week breakdown both laid out. Texas has to finish ahead. Matching Houston is not enough.
Three hits, then a tied division
Sean Manaea struck out nine in six innings for New York. Francisco Alvarez doubled twice, scored twice and drove in two. The Mets (72-85) handed Andy Green his first win as full-time manager on the same day they announced his three-year contract, the AP game story said.
MacKenzie Gore worked five innings and left with the Rangers ahead. Nathan Eovaldi, in his fourth relief appearance since coming off the injured list, allowed the three-run sixth that flipped the game. Texas managed three hits.
Brandon Nimmo, facing his former club for the first time since the November trade that sent Marcus Semien to New York, had two of them. Semien went 0-for-5 in his return to Arlington.
The box is short. The division math is the longer story.
Parallel schedules, no head-to-head left
None of the remaining games are against each other. Texas hosts the Mets again Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, then closes with three at Minnesota. Houston finishes Wednesday in Seattle, then plays four at the Athletics in Sacramento, per the same AP standings notes and Dallas Sports Journal's schedule slate.
Soft opponents do not restore a lost head-to-head edge. Both the Mets and Twins are out of contention, and so are the Mariners and Athletics. Wins still have to land on Texas' ledger.
A sweep of New York would put the Rangers a game up again only if Houston also stalls; a split, or worse, leaves the Astros writing the next chapter from the Pacific Northwest and California.
