The Houston Astros finished 2026 as the worst team to ever make the playoffs, not including the 2020 shortened season.

Sunday, September 27th, the Houston Astros secured the AL West Division and punched their ticket into the 2026 playoffs. A dynamic team that has secured their spot in the playoffs the last nine out of ten years and has won their division eight of those ten years, the Astros are by definition a workhorse of a team.

Year in and year out, the Astros prove the haters wrong and show just why they have been the most dominant team in the American League for almost a decade. However, this year was different. Just how bad were the Astros this year? The team finished with a record of 81-81; yes, a team right at .500 not only made the playoffs but won their division. To make matters worse, the Houston Astros (number three seed) are going to be hosting the wildcard series against the Chicago White Sox (number six seed).

On May 20th, the Houston Astros found themselves eleven games under .500, facing numerous challenges, except for Yordan Alvarez, who was enjoying a standout season.

Alvarez ultimately concluded the year with career-best performance, having played 158 games and hitting 42 home runs, driving in 106 RBIs, scoring 105 runs, and achieving 179 hits, all while boasting an impressive slash line of .316/.432/.601 for an OPS+ of 190.

This remarkable season propelled him past his previous bests, especially with Aaron Judge sidelined for much of the year, creating a clear avenue for Alvarez to claim his first MVP award—the first AL MVP winner not named Ohtani, Judge, or Trout since Mookie Betts, aside from José Abreu’s shortened 2020 season.

Yordan’s MVP campaign could not have come at a better time for the Astros as they battled in the final days to the Texas Rangers who finished the season 80-82 and just one game from winnign the divison. To say it was a disappointing season for the AL West teams is barely touching how horrible of a year it was.

The Seattle Mariners, who came within one runner of advancing to the World Series, spent their first season since 2018 under .500 and watched the playoffs from the couch.

The Oakland Athletics had the Rookie of the Year in Nick Kurtz, the winner, and runner-up in Jacob Wilson, along with one of the most lethal hitters in the game, Brent Rooker, but ended up two games short of 100 losses.

The Rangers fell short and were overall a very weak team, and the Anaheim Angels experienced their first 100-loss season and extended their playoff drought by another year.

The path for the Astros has never been easier, yet at the same time, it has become harder. The top three teams—the Astros, Rangers, and Mariners—were all within 5 games of each other.

The season truly came down to the wire, with the Astros clinching on the final day, thanks to the Rangers losing to the Twins. Throughout the season, the Houston Astros spent only 4 games above .500, and their longest losing streak occurred in the first week, spanning eight games. They experienced 38 blown leads and 6 walk-off losses, yet the team remained resilient.

The Astros certainly did not reach the playoffs due to their pitching; their starting rotation had an earned run average (ERA) of 4.45, while their bullpen, aside from Josh Hader, who recorded 26 saves and only blew one, struggled as well. Hader pitched in 44 innings and finished 37 games, saving 23. Removing Hader’s impressive 1.01 ERA, the rest of the team had an average ERA of 3.78, but ultimately, they still finished below average in pitching.

The Astros received significant support from their lineup, accounting for 226 home runs, the most in MLB. The team also ranked number 1 in slugging at .417 and OPS at .732. Not all of this can be attributed to Yordan Alvarez’s MVP-like season (awards won’t be announced until November, approximately two weeks after the World Series wraps up). Give credit where credit is due; without the team’s power surge, it would be hard to imagine them ending anywhere close to .500.

They had five players in their lineup hit above the league average, with all five hitting 20+ home runs (Alvarez, Cam Smith, Christian Walker, Isaac Paredes, and Jeremy Pena). In terms of an all-around performance, Isaac Paredes had the second-best season not named Yordan Alvarez. In 155 games this year, he scored 69 runs, achieved 147 hits, hit 25 home runs, and recorded 94 RBIs, contributing to a slash line of .262/.360/.447/.806 with an OPS+ of 127.

This wasn’t initially intended to be a rundown on the Astros team, but it has evolved into that. I wasn’t aware that the Astros led the league in home runs and OPS. Much of that success can be attributed to Alvarez’s impressive 1.003 OPS. However, baseball is fundamentally a team sport, requiring more than just individual accolades to propel a team to the playoffs. No single player can single-handedly carry their team to the postseason, not even someone as talented as Ohtani.

The Astros fought back when they encountered a bad game or a rough streak, making the winning moments feel even sweeter. The team battled until the very last day of the regular season to demonstrate their resilience. The Astros not only defied the odds as the worst team to qualify for the playoffs since the 2005 Padres, who won their division and were swept in the NL Division, but they did so with a regular season record of 82-80.

It’s truly remarkable that the threshold to qualify for the AL West has become even lower this season, highlighting the disparities in playoff access among divisions. The misfortune of missing the playoffs due to falling five games out of contention could have been avoided if more teams invested during the offseason.

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished the season at 86-76, marking their third consecutive year of missing the playoffs since their 2023 World Series appearance.

The Diamondbacks are a solid team yet fall victim to the Dodgers’ constant spending and dominance in the NL West. With the Padres and Dodgers consistently making the playoffs, it becomes challenging for teams like the Giants and Diamondbacks to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians secured the AL Central division title for the third year in a row, all while maintaining the lowest payroll in the league at just $75 million for their entire roster.

The Guardians may not be statistically the worst team in the league, but they are the worst offensive team to make the playoffs in recent history. They made the playoffs as the first team in a full season without a player hitting .300, slugging 20 home runs, stealing 75+ RBIs, or stealing 40 bases, yet they still found their way into October. Even with José Ramírez down, the team still managed 85 wins.

They always find their way into the playoffs but can never make it count. The last time the team won the World Series was 1948, and their last appearance was in 2016. With how good the Guardians are, you would think they would spend money to bring more help to their roster, but no. It’s unfortunate when owners don’t care enough to invest in their team. But it doesn’t matter how you get to the playoffs; what matters is you’re here.

If one thing was certain, the Houston Astros had an astronomical season, putting together the type of year that made them look built for October. Cleveland’s path could not have been more different. The Guardians may have found their way into the postseason once again, but they did it with an offense that was historically bad by playoff standards.

That is what makes baseball so unpredictable. One team can dominate its way into October while another can scrape together just enough wins to survive. The Astros may have had the astronomical season, but now the historically bad Guardians offense has the same thing Houston does: a chance. Once October begins, how you got there matters a lot less than what you do when you arrive.