Thanks to the Houston Astros’ win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night, they have clinched the American League West Division title, and will face the Chicago White Sox in the American League Division Series.
The Astros, who won the World Series in 2017, have won division titles in four of the last five seasons, and were a wild card winner in the 2020 season.
The win gives the Astros a two-game lead over the White Sox with three games to go in the regular season, giving them an edge in the race to earn home-field advantage in the series.
The two teams, of course, have faced off in the playoffs once before. The Astros, then in the National League, were swept in the 2005 World Series by the White Sox, with outfielder Jermaine Dye capturing MVP honors for the White Sox in the series.
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The matchup would mark the first time in a decade that teams would rematch in the postseason after facing one another while one of the clubs was in the opposite league. The Milwaukee Brewers fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2011 National League Championship Series, and also lost to the Cardinals in the 1982 World Series while the Brew Crew were members of the American League.
The Astros will finish off their regular season with a three-game series against the now-eliminated Oakland A’s in Houston, while the White Sox will play the Detroit Tigers in a three-game set at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The American League Division Series is set to begin on Thursday.
