A pair of unlikely playoff teams collide as the Astros face the White Sox in AL Wild Card Series

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros are the first team to reach the postseason without a winning record.

The Chicago White Sox are the only team in major league history to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons with a playoff berth.

Now these two improbable playoff teams will meet in a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series starting Tuesday in Houston.

The Astros are led by AL MVP favorite Yordan Alvarez, who won the AL batting title, ranked second with 106 RBIs and was tied for second with 42 homers.

Chicago features three 30-homer stars, led by Japanese rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami, who hit 35, Miguel Vargas with 33 and Colson Montgomery, who had 31.

The White Sox lost at least 100 games in each of the past three seasons, with the low point coming when they dropped 121 games in 2024, setting the record for most losses since 1900. Will Venable took over as manager before last season and Chicago went 60-102 in 2025 before this season's huge turnaround to 84-78 that was enough to earn the final American League wild card.

“There was a moment (Sunday) after the game where we just paused for a second and said, hey, we understand we have the playoffs coming up, we understand this is all behind us as far as the regular season, but we’re proud of the fact that we were able to get 84 wins and all the progress that has really led to that,” Venable said Monday.

Though the Astros didn’t clinch their playoff berth until Sunday , going 81-81 to outlast Texas for the AL West title, their recent history is much different than that of the White Sox.

Houston fought through an injury-plagued season to reach the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years after missing out last season. It’s a remarkable stretch in which the Astros reached the American League Championship Series seven straight times from 2017-23 and advanced to the World Series four times, winning championships in 2017 and 2022.

“I’ve been here for almost a decade and just how this team just rallies around adversity — they don’t run from it. They actually run to it,” manager Joe Espada said. “They know that it’s going to happen. And watching them choose not to fold, they choose to fight, they choose to help one another, is very satisfying. It brings joy to see … their best version when things get tougher.”

Espada's contract expires at season's end and owner Jim Crane said Monday the team’s playoff berth will be “something to consider" when deciding on the skipper's future.

The White Sox return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, when they were eliminated by the Astros in four games in their Division Series.

Houston’s last trip to the postseason was a short one when the team was swept by the Detroit Tigers in a 2024 Wild Card Series.

The Astros are hoping to make a lot more noise this time around.

“Everyone starts from zero,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “The records in the regular season, they don’t matter now. Everyone’s starting from scratch, and it’s a short tournament. So, (let’s) see what happens.”

Both teams will go with a bullpen game in Tuesday’s series opener. The Astros will open with rookie AJ Blubaugh and the White Sox haden’t said who will open for them.

“Depending on how some guys feel and as we are trying to match up availability with how these guys are feeling, we’ll map it out a little bit more with more certainty,” Venable said. “But you can expect more of a bullpen-type game from us.”

The 26-year-old Blubaugh is 8-4 with a 3.16 ERA in 11 appearances with three starts across two seasons.

Alvarez led the majors and set a franchise record with 33 intentional walks this season. When teams first began issuing Alvarez free passes, Isaac Paredes, who bats behind him, felt it.

“I felt like they were kind of disrespecting me as a hitter,” Paredes said in Spanish through a translator. “But I felt as the season went on, I stopped taking it personal because Yordan is truly the greatest hitter right now in baseball so there was no reason for me to take it as a lack of respect towards myself.”

Paredes fouled a ball off his knee Saturday and played Sunday despite being sore. But he said he was feeling great on Monday and doesn’t think it will affect him in Game 1.

He ranks third on the team with 25 home runs, and his 94 RBIs are second.

The 26-year-old Murakami signed a two-year, $34 million deal in December to join the White Sox after they paid a $6,575,000 posting fee to the Yakult Swallows.

He’s thrilled to be in the postseason during his first year in the majors after spending eight years playing in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.

“I’m here (in) the postseason. ... I feel really excited,” he said in Japanese through a translator. “It’s just a feeling that I always dreamed about, so I’m just truly excited to be here and really happy to be here.”

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