HOUSTON -- The Astros¡¯ march to the 2024 American League West title was unlike any of their previous division titles in the past decade. They were 10 games behind the first-place Mariners on June 18 and written off by many. The golden era of Astros baseball was slipping away.

We all should have known better.

Somehow, the Astros managed to rise from the ashes and zoom to the top of the division by late July before pulling away in late summer. They clinched their seventh division title in the past eight seasons by getting homers from Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Jason Heyward on Tuesday night to beat the Mariners, 4-3, at Minute Maid Park.

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¡°All of them are special, but this one is more special for me, obviously, personally as a first-year manager,¡± Joe Espada said. ¡°This team, what we¡¯ve been through, that we are popping champagne, that¡¯s incredible. I never lost hope. I knew we were going to find ourselves in a position to come and compete and win the West.¡±

The Astros are in the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season -- only the Dodgers can claim the same feat -- and will play host to the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series next week in Houston against the No. 6 seed in the AL, which will be an opponent among the Royals, Tigers, Twins and Mariners.

¡°I think we¡¯ve gotten better over the course of the year each month,¡± Bregman said. ¡°As a ballclub, sometimes you have your best month early and I think ours is still ahead of us.¡±

Heyward, signed to a contract last month after the Dodgers cut him loose, clubbed a two-run homer off Logan Gilbert in the fifth inning to put the Astros ahead for good. Bregman homered in the first and Tucker in the fourth, providing Houston¡¯s only baserunners against Gilbert through four innings.

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¡°To be one of the guys that¡¯s new to this team late in the year is a cool experience and I¡¯ll never forget it,¡± he said.

Astros starter Framber Valdez wasn¡¯t at his best, giving up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, but Houston¡¯s backend bullpen trio of Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader slammed the door on Houston¡¯s 13th division title. Hader struck out Julio Rodriguez swinging for the final out, setting off a celebration on the field.

¡°Tears came out of my eyes,¡± Espada said. ¡°I¡¯m emotional because I care about this team, I love this team and the fact we are in position to compete for another World Series is special.¡±

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, who sprained his knee Sunday and has missed the last two games, plopped next to Espada on the bench in the final inning because he could sense the tension oozing from his manager.

¡°They know how much I care and I want it bad,¡± Espada said. ¡°The fact he sat next to me and said ¡®Breathe, we got this,¡¯ I will never, ever forget that from Yordan.¡±

A champagne celebration at any point seemed unlikely when Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr. and J.P. France ¨C all expected to be key starters -- suffered season-ending injuries or setbacks, putting the bullpen in early disarray. Justin Verlander missed 2 1/2 months with a neck injury and admittedly came back too soon. All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker was lost for three months in the summer with a fractured shin.

Espada never let his team forget about how much talent it possessed. He challenged his players to keep pushing despite the mounting setbacks, which included a 12-24 start.

¡°I never lost hope,¡± Espada said. ¡°These guys, they just stayed calm and as their leader I said ¡®I¡¯ve got to stay calm.¡¯¡±

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Things began falling into place as the summer progressed.

Bregman overcame another slow start at the plate, young starting pitchers Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti picked up the slack, and finally, the addition of veteran left-hander Yusei Kikuchi via trade in July solidified the rotation. Houston¡¯s division lead never was under three games after Aug. 14.

¡°I think a lot of it is culture, a lot of it is the guys in the locker room keeping spirits high,¡± Verlander said. ¡°The players had a big part in that. Joe not panicking had a big part of that. There were a lot of team meetings early on. And I think there was never a panic like, ¡®We suck, what¡¯s going on?' It was always, ¡®We¡¯re better than this.¡¯¡±

And now the Astros, whose 97 postseason games since 2017 are 24 more than any other team, are going to try to prove in October that they¡¯re better than everybody.

¡°You just got to get your foot in the door,¡± Brown said. ¡°That¡¯s what we did. We¡¯ve got as good a chance as anybody.¡±