Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane Njoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane Njoku\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jane Njoku\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6\"},\"headline\":\"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\"},\"wordCount\":154,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\",\"name\":\"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"houston astros\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"width\":389,\"height\":218,\"caption\":\"Matchplug Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6\",\"name\":\"Jane Njoku\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane Njoku\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/jane\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog","description":"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog","og_description":"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.","og_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/","og_site_name":"Matchplug Blog","article_published_time":"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jane Njoku","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane Njoku","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/"},"author":{"name":"Jane Njoku","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6"},"headline":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer","datePublished":"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/"},"wordCount":154,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","articleSection":["American Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/","name":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer - Matchplug Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","datePublished":"2025-09-03T10:08:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T10:09:02+00:00","description":"The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","width":700,"height":400,"caption":"houston astros"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","name":"Matchplug Blog","description":"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Matchplug Blog","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","width":389,"height":218,"caption":"Matchplug Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6","name":"Jane Njoku","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane Njoku"},"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/jane\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/houston-astros.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34444,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34443\/revisions\/34444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

include 'anchor.php';{"id":34443,"date":"2025-09-03T11:08:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=34443"},"modified":"2025-09-03T11:09:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:09:02","slug":"astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/astros-enter-september-in-tight-al-west-battle-after-up-and-down-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Enter September in Tight AL West Battle After Up-and-Down Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Houston Astros have endured a season of highs and lows, yet remain atop the American League West as the calendar turns to September.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston holds a three-game lead over the Seattle Mariners and a 4.5-game advantage on the Texas Rangers following Labor Day. With Texas charging and plenty of baseball left, securing another division crown will be no easy task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Astros\u2019 cushion was built on a strong early stretch, particularly in June, but the club stumbled through the summer. They finished just under .500 in both July and August, continuing a season marked by streaky play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, Houston remains among baseball\u2019s elite and a contender for another deep October run. In MLB.com\u2019s final regular-season power rankings, writer Will Leitch<\/a> placed the Astros at No. 10, down one spot from the previous week as the New York Yankees jumped ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"