The Houston Astros have messed around lately and found out that they may indeed miss the playoffs. When Houston began a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday, the Astros were tied with the Mariners atop the American League West, and every good outcome seemed possible, especially with Seattle still having to face the Los Angeles Dodgers to end the year.
And then, everything proceeded to go terribly wrong for Houston, particularly on offense. The Astros were swept by the Mariners at home, effectively killing their division hopes. Even worse, Houston followed that up by losing back-to-back games to the lowly Athletics, making for five straight defeats.