The Rangers can win out and still miss.
Texas is 79-81, tied with Houston atop the AL West, and the Astros own the head-to-head tiebreaker at 9-4. If both teams finish with the same record, Houston takes the division and Texas goes home. Neither club is close to a wild card, so the division is the only way in.
How to watch
Rangers at Twins
Saturday, Sept. 26 — 4:10 p.m. ET / 3:10 p.m. CT
Target Field, Minneapolis
TV: Rangers Sports Network in Texas, Twins.TV in Minnesota
Streaming: MLB.TV and Fubo, subject to local blackout
Radio: 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, with Spanish on KFLC 1270. WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM and the Audacy app in Minnesota.
Probables: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (11-10, 4.27) for Texas, RHP Bailey Ober (7-6, 4.21) for Minnesota.
Rain is in the forecast in Minneapolis and a delay is possible.
Lineups
Texas: Brandon Nimmo RF, Wyatt Langford LF, Corey Seager SS, Jake Burger 1B, Ezequiel Durán 3B, Nick Lopez 2B, Danny Jansen C, Evan Carter CF, Alejandro Osuna DH.
Minnesota: Luke Keaschall RF, Brooks Lee 3B, Kody Clemens 2B, Josh Bell DH, Walker Jenkins CF, Alan Roden LF, Royce Lewis 1B, Victor Caratini C.
Kaelen Culpepper, listed at shortstop, went on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury.
The math
Both teams have two games left. Texas is at Minnesota today and tomorrow. Houston is at the Athletics tonight at 9:40 p.m. ET and again Sunday.
Texas needs a better record than Houston. Matching them isn't enough.
The Astros can clinch tonight with a win and a Rangers loss.
Both teams lost Friday
Texas lost 10-2 at Target Field. Jacob deGrom gave up a two-run triple to Luke Keaschall, and Kody Clemens homered off the bullpen for his 27th.
Houston lost 6-5 in West Sacramento on a six-run Athletics sixth that started when Jose Altuve dropped a relay throw from Jeremy Peña with nobody out. Altuve said afterward it was a play he should have made. Hunter Brown had a 1-0 lead going into the inning and came out after 5⅓ and 100 pitches, with the Houston bullpen having thrown 20 innings in three days.
The Astros scored three in the eighth and left the tying run at third.
No team in the AL West will finish above .500.
Texas hasn't been back since the title
The Rangers won the 2023 World Series and haven't returned to the postseason.
Ezequiel Durán starts at third, and he's having the best season of his career by a wide margin. The Dominican infielder, from San Juan de la Maguana, has 17 home runs, 83 RBIs and 11 stolen bases across 151 games, hitting .259/.320/.421. His 4.1 WAR is more than his previous four seasons combined — he'd never topped 1.1 before this year, and he'd hit zero home runs in 90 games in 2025.
He's played third, short, second and all three outfield spots this season. He debuted in 2022 and goes by "The Solution." He's making $1.38 million and is arbitration-eligible next winter.
Alejandro Osuna, born in Ahome, Sinaloa, designated hits.
Jake Burger leads the team with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs. Corey Seager has 19. Wyatt Langford has 17 with 15 steals.
Big Game Nate
Eovaldi is 36 and in his fifteenth season, his fourth in Texas. He's 46-26 with a 3.41 ERA as a Ranger — the best stretch of a career that's included Tommy John surgery, eleven seasons in the American League and stops with the Dodgers, Marlins, Yankees, Rays and Red Sox.
Last year he went 11-3 with a 1.73 ERA and a 221 ERA+ in 22 starts. This year has been harder: 11-10, 4.27, with 24 home runs allowed in 141⅓ innings after giving up ten all of last season.
He came off the injured list ten days ago and threw four innings of one-hit relief in a 7-3 win over Boston on Sept. 16, retiring the last eleven batters he faced. His children, Jace and Adeline, had thrown out the ceremonial first pitch to him before the game.
"Big Game Nate," teammate Josh Jung said afterward. "He always shows up."
He works mostly off a splitter now — 37 percent usage, with his offspeed pitches in the 99th percentile by run value. He walks almost nobody, 2.1 per nine. The four-seamer has been the problem, in the fifth percentile.
Minnesota has won three straight
The Twins are 76-84 and eliminated, but they've taken three in a row.
Brooks Lee has 24 home runs and 83 RBIs. Kody Clemens has 27 homers. Josh Bell has 92 RBIs. Luke Keaschall, the rookie, is hitting .281 with 20 stolen bases and 81 runs.
Bailey Ober is 7-6 with a 4.21 ERA and one complete-game shutout. The 6-foot-9 right-hander throws about 88, among the slowest fastballs in baseball, and gets by on extension in the 96th percentile and a sweeper that's been his best pitch by run value.
Two thin rosters
Texas has five pitchers on the 60-day list: Jack Leiter, Jalen Beeks, Cal Quantrill, Carter Baumler and Cole Winn. Joc Pederson and Kyle Higashioka are on the 10-day. Josh Jung is day-to-day with a hand injury.
Minnesota has six on the 60-day, including Pablo López, the Venezuelan right-hander and the Twins' Roberto Clemente Award nominee, with an elbow injury. Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach and Kaelen Culpepper are all on the 10-day.
What the winner gets
The AL West champion is the No. 3 seed and hosts the No. 6 seed in a best-of-three wild card series beginning Tuesday.
Everything else in the American League is settled. Tampa Bay is the No. 1 seed with a bye. The AL Central winner — Cleveland at 84-76 or the White Sox at 83-77 — takes the No. 2 seed and the other bye, with Chicago holding that tiebreaker. The Central runner-up is the No. 6 seed. The Yankees are fourth and host the Red Sox, who clinched the No. 5 seed Friday.
The other race
Philadelphia is 87-73 and Arizona 86-74 for the final National League wild card, and the D-backs hold the tiebreaker on division record. The Phillies host Tampa Bay at 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX. Arizona is at San Diego at 8:40 p.m. ET.
Wild card series begin Tuesday, Sept. 29. Division series begin Oct. 3.
Lineups, probables, standings and tiebreaker rules via MLB. Pitch data via Baseball Savant.