The Texas Rangers moved into a tie with the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West after beating the Boston Red Sox 7-3, while Houston lost 5-2 to the Kansas City Royals.
Texas last held a share of first place on Aug. 24.
Although they're now tied for first in the division, the Astros remain in the AL's No. 3 seed as they hold the tiebreaker over the Rangers. If the season ended today, Houston would host the No. 6 seed Chicago White Sox in the best-of-three AL wild-card series.
The Rangers sit one game back of Chicago for the final AL playoff spot, and are a half-game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. Texas hosts Toronto in a pivotal three-game series this weekend.
Houston and Texas each sport 76-76 records. No team has ever won their division with a record of .500 or worse. Only two teams have ever made the playoffs with a losing record, both of which happened in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
