Houston wins West once more

The Houston Astros rallied to clinch their third straight AL West title on Sunday, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-1, in Phoenix behind Christian Javier’s six strong innings and Alex Bregman’s two-run homer.

Needing a win and a Texas loss to win the division, the Astros did their part by jumping on Kyle Nelson (7-4) from the first pitch. Kyle Tucker had a sacrifice fly to finish with 112 RBIs, most in the AL and third in the majors.

The Astros have a first-round bye in the AL playoffs, while Arizona will play at Milwaukee in a best-of-three NL wild card series that starts Tuesday.

The Astros won’t be playing in the wild-card round because, up in Seattle, George Kirby allowed only three hits in six innings, and the Mariners beat Texas, 1-0. The Rangers now have to go to Tampa Bay as a wild-card team.

Rays soar into playoff

Jonathan Aranda hit his first career grand slam and drove in six runs, Tampa Bay homered three times to set a single-season team record, and the Rays roughed up host Toronto, 12-8. The Blue Jays visit Minnesota in the AL wild card series beginning Tuesday.

Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz won the AL batting title by sitting out the final day of the season. Díaz began the day in a tight race with Texas shortstop Corey Seager, with Seager ahead .3298 to .3295. Seager went 0 for 4, dropping his average to .327.

Marlins get 5th seed

Miguel Andujar hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth and host Pittsburgh beat playoffbound Miami, 3-0. The Marlins now head to NL East rival Philadelphia for a best-of-three wildcard series beginning Tuesday. Miami’s Luis Arraez won the NL batting crown at .354.

Mets fire Showalter

Alec Bohm hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning, sending playoff-bound Philadelphia to a 9-1 victory in Buck Showalter’s final game as Mets manager. New York plans to introduce David Stearns as president of baseball operations on Monday, and owner Steve Cohen said during a brief postgame news conference that “when hiring a president of baseball operations, they’re entitled to bring in their own people.” . . . In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera was feted in his final game as the Tigers beat Cleveland, 5-2, in Terry Francona’s last game as Guardians manager . . . In Kansas City, Zack Greinke threw four-hit ball into the sixth to beat the Yankees, 5-2, for his 225th win to end the season and quite possibly his 20-year big league career.