Richie Palacios had a two-run single in fifth, Ian Seymour threw six strong innings and Nick Madrigal had a clutch sacrifice fly to help the postseason-bound Tampa Bay Rays beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Saturday night.

Houston Astros (75-73, first in the AL West) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (88-59, first in the AL East) St. Petersburg, Florida; Saturday, 6:10 p.m. EDT PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Peter Lambert (8-8, 3.67 ERA,

The Tampa Bay Rays are the first team to lock up a spot in the 2026 MLB playoffs. They did it in dramatic fashion.

Houston scored three or fewer runs for the 21st time in the past 35 games, failing to come up with timely hits in another low-scoring game against Tampa Bay.

As the season has moved along, the Rays made a key move in picking up hard-hitting catcher Liam Hicks from the Miami Marlins to support the Rays' Big Three. They have also gotten a huge lift from speedy outfielder Chandler Simpson. His ability to slap the ball to the opposite field and steal bases have kept opponents off balance.

The Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays clash in an NCAA College Football weekend baseball matchup as MVP candidates Yordan Alvarez and Junior Caminero duel.

Winners of seven straight, the Padres are the hottest team in baseball. After sweeping the Giants over the weekend, they now own a 2.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks for the final NL Wild Card spot. In other news, Manny Machado has gone blonde.

Isaac Paredes, Nick Allen, and Nelson Velázquez all went deep, but it wasn't nearly enough in a lopsided series finale.