For the first time since 2001, the Seattle Mariners are AL West division champions.

The team secured its division title on Wednesday night after a 9-2 home win against the Colorado Rockies. The Mariners, who beat the Houston Astros to the crown, also clinched a playoff berth the night before for only the second time in 24 years.

“I love this organization, city and teammates,” designated hitter Cal Raleigh said after the game. “It’s just been great. To do it in this fashion has been crazy and exciting and fun, and everything that I hoped and dreamed it would be.”

Raleigh played a huge part of the Mariners’ success in 2025. The 28-year-old recorded his 60th home run on Wednesday, continuing to put himself in the MVP race as the postseason approaches.

“It’s crazy. 60 is … I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I don’t know if I was going to hit 60 in my life. Just tonight, what a way to do it.”

Only three teams have had longer division title droughts than the Mariners before this season. The Rockies and the Miami Marlins have yet to win their respective divisions since joining the league in 1993, while the Pittsburgh Pirates have not won the NL Central division since 1992.

This postseason, the Mariners are looking to break an unwanted title: being the only franchise in the MLB to never feature in a World Series. After a loss by the Cleveland Guardians early on Friday, the team official clinched a first-round bye.

“We’re not done yet,” Raleigh said. “Obviously we’ll enjoy this moment, celebrate. Like I said, we’ve got bigger things on the horizon.”

Baseball fans have criticized the Houston Astros after the team’s game Wednesday, claiming that the team instigated a fight with Mariners star Julio Rodriguez. In the midst of a tight division race, the Astros were frustrated after two of their batters were hit in the game Tuesday.

“I’m tired of our guys getting hit,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said before the game Wednesday. “It makes guys a lot bolder when they don’t have to hit.”

Baker’s comments were seen by many as loading the powder keg, which nearly exploded in the bottom of the sixth inning when Astros pitcher Hector Neris charged Rodriguez following a strikeout. Neris seemed intent on taunting Rodriguez but he was quickly held back to prevent him from escalating the matter further. Both benches cleared and it took several minutes to resolve the dispute.

“He’s my friend,” Neris told reporters after the game. “Just, it’s part of the game.”

For his part, Rodriguez said through a spokesperson that he was shocked by Neris’ behavior.

The Astros went on to win the game 8-3, taking the three-game series and a 1.5-game lead in the Wild Card over Seattle. The primary reason for such high tensions was the playoff race, as both teams desperately needed the win in order to earn the last postseason berth. The Rays and Blue Jays have the first two spots, leaving just one for the runner-up in the AL West.

With just a few games remaining for each team, Houston now controls its own destiny in a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Mariners must try to sweep the Texas Rangers in a four-game set, and even then, the Astros could eliminate them with a sweep of their own. There is an exhaustive list of possibilities from there, but in short, Houston’s series win over Seattle put them in a vastly more comfortable position.

Texas Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer will miss at least the rest of the regular season after suffering a teres major injury in Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. He could also miss the postseason, though the Rangers were already on the cusp of losing a playoff berth before Scherzer’s setback.

The teres major is a small muscle in the shoulder, and while Scherzer will not require surgery to treat the injury, the strain will prevent him from appearing on the mound again for the foreseeable future. In addition to Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, the Rangers have now lost three top pitchers to injury in a single season.

“In some ways, I was almost relieved that it’s not worse,” Scherzer told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not surgery. Talking about the doctors, I fully expect to make a full recovery.”

With an 81-64 record, Texas recently overtook the Seattle Mariners for second place in the AL West division. Both teams are within two games of the first-place Houston Astros, setting up a tense three-way fight for the division with less than 20 games remaining.

The two losing teams in the division battle will have to resort to the AL Wild Card to make the playoffs. If the season ended after last night’s games, both the Rangers and Mariners would earn postseason berths with the two final spots in the Wild Card, but the Blue Jays are just one game behind Seattle with an 80-66 record.

When the Rangers acquired Scherzer from the Mets at the trade deadline, giving away top prospect Luisangel Acuna in the process, the plan was for him to fill in as the team’s ace during a massive playoff push. Instead, Scherzer struggled at times, earning a 4-2 record and 3.20 ERA in eight starts. In a highly anticipated matchup against his Astros rival and former teammate Justin Verlander, Houston batters ended his night early and went on to win the game 12-3.

Following Scherzer’s injury, many sportsbooks made the Rangers the third favorite to win the AL West despite their current half-game lead over the Mariners for second. The team’s offense, stellar all year, will need to continue providing run support as the regular season quickly comes to a close.

In a highly anticipated pitching matchup between former teammates Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, the Houston Astros soundly defeated the Texas Rangers 12-3 to maintain a one-game lead in the AL West.

The game Wednesday night was the first time Verlander and Scherzer had ever faced off. The two future Hall-of-Famers were teammates on the Detroit Tigers from 2010 to 2014 and again earlier this season with the New York Mets. They were traded to opposing AL West rivals at the trade deadline as both the Astros and Rangers seek a hotly contested division title.

But in a game many expected to be closely contested with two aces on the mound, the Astros quickly overwhelmed Scherzer and took a 7-1 lead after three innings. Scherzer did not make it to the fourth inning, but Verlander went on to pitch seven, allowing a home run in the first inning but allowing no further runs while striking out six batters. Houston tacked on another run in the fifth and four in the ninth to cruise to a 12-3 win.

“I couldn’t get all the way through the ball, couldn’t explode through the ball,” Scherzer said after the game. “I can go out there and compete. I went out there against Minnesota last time kind of with a similar issue and was able to compete and locate. … Today, just didn’t get it done and didn’t locate the ball well enough.”

In 26 starts this season, Scherzer has earned a 12-6 record with a 3.91 ERA, his highest since 2011. Though he has made several solid starts for Texas, he has not provided the punch many expected him to as the team fights for the division. While the Astros recently took the lead with an 80-61 record and the surging Mariners sit just behind them at 78-61, the Rangers are now three games back at 76-63.

After leading the division for most of the year, if the season ended today, the Rangers would not even have a postseason berth, as they are currently a half-game out of the last Wild Card spot behind the Toronto Blue Jays. Seven games against the Mariners at the end of the month may end up determining the season.

The Seattle Mariners did not start the season well back in the spring, losing 13 games in April and 22 in May. But they have started to slowly turn things around in the latter parts of June. While they remain at the bottom of the AL West at 35-47, 15.5 games behind first-place Houston Astros, they’ve won four out of their last five games. And while the team is well out of contention for the playoffs, there is a promising future ahead for the Mariners that fans can look forward to for the rest of the season and in the coming seasons.

The Mariners have a ton of young prospects at their disposal for the future. Domingo Santana is one of the more consistent hitters in the entire team. At just 26, he proves to be a valuable asset and a big building block for the future. On the younger side, Jared Kelenic, Justin Dunn and Justus Sheffield are in the top 100 MLB prospects, while Julio Rodriguez remains in that company after he returns from injury.

While the team has a losing record, they remain a fun, energy-driven side that has upside in the rebuilding process, with tons of potential to be contenders of a rather weak AL West. They recently beat the Baltimore Orioles as big as 13-0 on Sunday. Tickets are one of the lower-costing entry fees in all the ballparks in the MLB.

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With their upcoming home games, tickets on Stubhub have the Mariners hosting the St. Louis Cardinals for as low as $20 for a ticket. They host the Oakland A’s, with tickets going around $15 during the series. They host another AL West clash after that against Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels, with tickets going for $20. For the foreseeable future, they host the Texas Rangers for tickets going as low as $10 ahead of time.

Here is a short schedule of the upcoming home series for the Mariners:

• July 2 – 4 vs. St. Louis Cardinals. Tickets ranging from $20 – $24.
• July 5 – 7 vs. Oakland Athletics. Tickets ranging from $15 – $18.
• (All-Star Break)
• July 19 – 21 vs. Los Angeles Angels. Tickets ranging from $20 – $22.
• July 22 – 24 vs. Texas Rangers. Tickets ranging from $10 – $12

With a single win, the Texas Rangers ended their battle with the American League West’s second-place team.

Rangers’ Yu Darvish Establishes New High For Pitch Count Since Return From Surgery

The Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-3 at Globe Life Park Monday night. Seattle’s loss, combined with Houston’s 3-0 victory over the Oakland A’s on Monday, pushed the Astros back into second place. The Rangers (78-54), meanwhile, are in first place. Texas play their next nine games against Seattle and Houston, so the places could switch at any point, of course.

Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish seems to have gotten rather comfortable on his home turf. The 30-year-old Japanese right-hander is 5-0 at Globe Life Park this season in seven starts and has a 3.00 ERA. He’s struck out 48 and walked 10. For his career: 27-11 with a 3.02 ERA.

Darvish established a new high for pitch count since returning from Tommy John surgery with 110. He had 107 pitches on Aug. 12 against Detroit. After giving up four walks in his first start since returning from his midseason DL trip, Darvish has allowed only 10 walks over his last eight starts. He has 62 strikeouts in that span.

When Ketel Marte stole second base in the third inning Monday, it marked the 22nd consecutive successful stolen base attempt against Darvish dating back to 2013. Darvish did a nice job fielding Kyle Seager’s soft grounder and throwing on to first for the second out of the sixth inning.

Carlos Beltran hit his 25th home run of the season, his third with Texas, on a 2-2 pitch with two outs. Beltran also had extra-base hits in his first two at-bats Monday.

Adrian Beltre’s fifth-inning double was the 584th of his career, thus breaking a tie with Robin Yount for 20th all-time. He is now one behind Rafael Palmeiro for 19th.

ARLINGTON, TX – JUNE 08: Yu Darvish #11 of the Texas Rangers throws in the first inning against the Houston Astros at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 8, 2016 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images)