Astros Take Control of AL West Race With Dominant June

The Houston Astros wrapped up the month of June with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs and a stranglehold on the American League West Division race.

As the sun set on Houston on Sunday, the Astros led the division by 6.5 games over the Seattle Mariners, who managed to take two out of three from the Texas Rangers in a series in which all three games went to extra innings. The Los Angeles Angels were 8.5 games back and the Rangers were nine games back.

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The Astros were 50-34. To get there, the Astros executed a month of greatness that MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Houston entered the month in second place in the division, just a half-game out of first place. After a win over Tampa Bay on June 1, Houston moved into first place and never gave up the lead. In fact, the Astros’ lead swelled to 4.5 games by June 12.

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The only other teams in the Majors with 50 victories by the end of June are the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Houston is off on Monday, which means its 19-7 record in June stands as the best record of any team in the league for the month. At one point the Astros won an impressive seven out of eight games, including back-to-back walk-off games.

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The Astros just wrapped up an impressive week to end the month. Houston hosted two of the National League’s front-runners, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs.

Houston swept Philadelphia on the back of its impressive starting rotation, as the Astros won all three games by a combined score of 5-1. Houston tossed two shutouts part of the nine shutouts the Astros have compiled this season.

The Astros took two out of three from the Cubs, including Sunday’s shutout. Framber Valdez started that game and claimed the victory, adding to the 10 straight games Houston has won with him on the bump.

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Assuming Houston remains on track to win the division, this would be the franchise’s eighth division title in the last nine seasons, dating back to 2017. The only time in that span Houston didn’t win the AL West was in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Houston is also on track to keep alive its streak of playoff seasons, which would grow to nine by making the postseason.  

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