Advertisement

sportsRangers

Final Rangers playoff standings: Season series vs. Astros costs Texas AL West title

Final standings in the 2023 AL West, won for the third straight year by the Houston Astros.

The 2023 MLB regular season is over, and the Texas Rangers have come up just short of the franchise’s eighth AL West division championship.

Instead its the Houston Astros, on the final game of the season, coming back to tie up the Rangers in the standings, winning the division title by way of head-to-head tiebreaker.

See the final standings below.

Related Stories
View More
Rangers

Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.

Or with:

MLB playoff format

The postseason format changed ahead of the 2022 season when a new CBA was struck between MLB and the Players Association, with 12 teams — six in each league — now qualifying for the postseason. Similar to the NFL playoffs, the top two teams in each league get a bye to the second round.

Advertisement

The first round (wild card) is best-of-3 format, with all three games at the better-seeded team’s home. The DS series are best-of-5, with CS and World Series the standard best-of-7. Division winners are seeded 1-3 in each league, regardless of wildcard teams that might have a better record, and are guaranteed home-field advantage during their first series.

Similar to the NFL, the No. 3 seed will play the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed will play the No. 5 seed in the wildcard round.

Final AL playoff seeding

1. X-Baltimore Orioles, 101-61. Last: Lost to Boston Red Sox, 6-1 on Sunday.

Advertisement

2. X-Houston Astros, 90-72. Last: Def. Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-1 on Sunday.

3. X-Minnesota Twins, 87-75. Last: Lost to Colorado Rockies, 3-2 on Sunday.

4. Y-Tampa Bay Rays, 99-63. Last: Def. Toronto Blue Jays, 12-8 on Sunday.

5. Y-Texas Rangers, 90-72. Last: Lost to Seattle Mariners, 1-0 on Sunday.

6. Y-Toronto Blue Jays, 89-73. Last: Lost to Tampa Bay Rays, 12-8 on Sunday.

AL West club. X = Division winner. Y = Wild card berth.

AL West standings

The Rangers are, as they say, backing into the playoffs.

Advertisement

They lost three of their last four in a pivotal series vs. Seattle to close out the season, including a loss on Sunday that cost them the AL West title.

The Astros, meanwhile, took care of business against the Diamondbacks, tied the Rangers in the standings, and won their third-straight division championship based off the season head-to-head tiebreaker with Texas.

Twitter: @dmn_rangers

Advertisement
Related Stories
View More

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.