Astros Clinch AL West With 9-0 Win Over A’s

Houston secured the division by using its season‑series tiebreaker to advance to the postseason at 81-81 following the Game 162 victory.

Overview

The Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 9-0 on Sunday to clinch the American League West, finishing the regular season 81-81 while the A’s closed at 64-98.
Peter Lambert started for Houston and was followed by a bullpen that held Oakland scoreless after the A’s opened with a planned bullpen start by Seth Johnson.
Houston entered the day controlling its own fate because it won the season series versus the Texas Rangers, so the win made Texas’s result irrelevant for the division outcome.
The victory came after a 13-2 Astros win on Saturday that featured Jeremy Peña’s multi‑homer game and followed a season in which Houston led MLB in home runs and leaned on Yordan Álvarez’s MVP-caliber offense.
With the A’s season over, Oakland will shift to offseason roster work and continue plans to relocate long term, while the Astros turn to postseason roster decisions and bullpen management for October play.