Cristian Javier threw six scoreless innings as the Houston Astros clinched a third consecutive American League East title with Sunday's 8-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The defending World Series champions also secured the AL's No. 2 seed and a first-round playoff bye with a win in Sunday's regular-season finale, coupled with the Texas Rangers' 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

Both the Astros and Rangers finished the season at 90-72, with Houston winning the tiebreaker by virtue of taking the season series from Texas.

The Diamondbacks will also be headed to the playoffs but will be the National League's No. 6 seed due to the loss. Arizona ended with an identical record as Miami, with the Marlins getting the NL's second wild card by also winning the season series between the teams. 

Arizona, which is making its first postseason trip since 2017, will face Milwaukee in the opening round. The NL Central champion Brewers will host Game 1 of the series Tuesday.

Houston started fast by scoring four times in the first inning, highlighted by Alex Bregman's two-run homer off Kyle Nelson. Bregman tripled and scored in the second for a 5-0 lead, and Jose Abreu later added a two-run homer in the seventh after Kyle Tucker tripled and scored in the fifth. 

Bregman, Abreu and Tucker all finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

Javier earned his 10th win of the season by holding the Diamondbacks to three hits and two walks. Arizona didn't score until Jake McCarthy singled in the eighth and scored on Lourdes Gurriel's double.

Kirby dominant as Mariners deny Rangers AL West title

The Seattle Mariners prevented the Texas Rangers from capturing the AL West with Sunday's 1-0 win behind six stellar innings from George Kirby.

Kirby yielded just three hits while striking out seven to drop the Rangers to the AL's No. 5 seed and send them into an opening-round series against Tampa Bay. The Rays will host Game 1 on Tuesday.

Seattle, which was eliminated from playoff consideration with Saturday's 6-1 loss to Texas, scored the game's only run in the fourth. After Eugenio Suarez and Jarred Kelenic singled and Ty France drew a walk from Rangers starter Dane Dunning to load the bases, Dominic Canzone plated Suarez with a groundout.

Kirby made the lead stand before three relievers finished off the Mariners' MLB-leading 18th shutout. Isaiah Campbell worked the ninth to earn his first career save.

Dunning, working on three days' rest, was charged with the lone run while pitching 3 1/3 innings. Martin Perez threw 3 2/3 hitless innings in relief.

Braves tie MLB season record with Ozuna's two homers

Marcell Ozuna went deep twice to give the Atlanta Braves a share of MLB's record for home runs in a season, though the Washington Nationals rallied with three runs in the ninth inning to hand the NL's No. 1 overall seed a 10-9 loss in the regular-season finale. 

Washington trailed 8-7 entering the ninth before loading the bases off Michael Tonkin, who walked Drew Millas to force in the tying run before surrendering Jacob Young's go-ahead two-run single. 

Ozuna got Atlanta back within one by blasting his 40th homer of the season in the bottom of the ninth, which put the Braves at 307 for the campaign to match the mark set by the 2019 Minnesota Twins.

Young and Kelbert Ruiz each drove in three runs for the Nationals, who pounded out 15 hits on the afternoon. Lane Thomas went 4 for 6 with two runs scored and Ruiz finished with three hits. 

Ozuna's first homer, a three-run shot in the third, tied the game at 5-5. Matt Olson and Michael Harris each knocked in two runs for the NL East champs. 

Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe hit consecutive solo home runs in the sixth inning to rally the Texas Rangers to a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday that extended the American League West leaders' winning streak to six games.

Marcus Semien added a solo homer in the seventh inning to help back six sharp innings from Jon Gray as Texas reduced its magic number to win the division to four. The Rangers maintained a 2 1/2-game lead over second-place Houston with less than a week remaining in the regular season.

Garcia, Garver and Lowe's back-to-back-to-back homers off Jimmy Herget erased a 1-0 deficit, and Semien belted his third homer in two games an inning later to increase the lead to 4-1.

Texas had a season-high six homers in Sunday's 9-8 win over AL West rival Seattle and now has 227 for the season, surpassing the Angels' 225 for the most in the AL.

Gray ended a seven-start winless drought by holding the Angels to one run on five hits while recording seven strikeouts. The right-hander had gone 0-3 with a 6.46 ERA during that stretch.

Logan O'Hoppe finished 2 for 4 and accounted for Los Angeles' lone run with a solo homer in the second inning.

Angels starter Patrick Sandoval threw three scoreless innings before exiting with tightness in his right oblique. The left-hander walked the first two hitters of the fourth prior to departing.

Verlander dominates Mariners as Astros increase gap in AL wild card race

Justin Verlander took a shutout into the ninth inning in his best start since rejoining the Houston Astros, who increased their lead on the Seattle Mariners for the AL's third wild card with Monday's 5-1 win.

Verlander yielded just two hits and struck out eight until permitting a leadoff double to Josh Rojas to begin the bottom of the ninth. The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner was then removed after 96 pitches.

Rojas ended up scoring Seattle's lone run on a sacrifice fly from Julio Rodriguez.

Verlander helped the Astros to two World Series titles over four-plus seasons before signing with the New York Mets in December. The 40-year-old was traded back to Houston on Aug. 1.

Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker had solo home runs to help Houston win the opener of this important three-game series. The Astros are now 1 1/2 games up on the Mariners for the final wild card and trail the first-place Texas Rangers by 2 1/2 games in the AL West.

Martin Maldonado went 2 for 3 and delivered an RBI double during a three-run second inning that staked Verlander to an early lead. Mauricio Dubon and Jose Altuve added RBI singles during the frame.

Luis Castillo struck out eight over six innings for Seattle, which has now lost four in a row, but allowed all five Houston runs.

Diamondbacks fall to Yankees, drop into tie for NL's second wild card

Oswald Peraza, Estevan Florial and Everson Pereira had eighth-inning RBIs as the New York Yankees rallied for a 6-4 win over Arizona that dropped the Diamondbacks into a tie for the NL’s second wild card spot.

The loss sent the Diamondbacks into a tie with the idle Chicago Cubs in the wild card standings with both teams one game ahead of the Miami Marlins. 

The Yankees, who overcame deficits three times in the game, trailed 4-3 entering their half of the eighth but tagged Kevin Ginkel for three runs to take the lead for good. Clay Holmes then pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save of the season.

Youngsters Peraza and Austin Wells homered to help the Yankees earn two wins in the three-game series.

Arizona’s Merrill Kelly needed 96 pitches to navigate five innings, but allowed just two runs while striking out five and leaving with the game tied.

Alek Thomas knocked in two runs for the Diamondbacks, while Corbin Carroll finished 3 for 5 with an RBI.