Houston's offense put up double-digits on Saturday to lock up home-field advantage for the ALDS. Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images

Houston's offense put up double-digits on Saturday to lock up home-field advantage for the ALDS.

With a loss on Friday in the series opener to postpone it another day, the Astros entered Saturday's middle game against Oakland hoping to tie one more loose end on the regular season: clinching the number two seed in the American League. With a great night at the plate by their bats, they'd get the victory to ensure that the White Sox would have to travel to Houston for ALDS Game 1.

Final Score: Astros 10, A's 4

Astros' Record: 94-67, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Phil Maton (6-0)

Losing Pitcher: Paul Blackburn (1-4)

Oakland strikes first, Houston responds in a big way

Jake Odorizzi looked as though he might be in for a rough night after his top of the first inning turned awry. The A's started things off with a single; then, after a rough play by Yordan Alvarez in left field, a potential became an RBI triple to start Oakland's night ahead 1-0 after two batters. They went on to double the lead two batters later, getting an RBI double before Odorizzi could get through the frame.

Go down and get it big fella!#ForTheH pic.twitter.com/lsrCkAY010
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 2, 2021

Luckily for him, Houston's offense started just as hot, responding in the bottom of the first with a single and a walk to set up Yordan Alvarez's 33rd home run of the season, a go-ahead shot to make it 3-2. Jason Castro made it back-to-back games with a homer in the next inning, sneaking a solo blast over the Crawford Boxes wall to give Houston the two-run advantage. They didn't stop there, loading the bases with three-straight singles before an RBI groundout by Alex Bregman pushed the lead to 5-2.

Houston goes to the bullpen in the fifth

In command of the lead for the 2021 AL batting title, Yuli Gurriel drilled a ball to left-center to lead off the bottom of the third, and though initially ruled a double, would go to review and end up being a solo homer to make it a four-run game. The score remained 6-2 as Odorizzi erased a walk for a scoreless fourth, but a leadoff single in the top of the fifth would score and give him his third earned run of the game before he would end his night two outs into the frame. His final line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 69 P.

Phil Maton was Houston's first reliever out, taking over for Odorizzi to try and get the third out of the fifth. After an error, shift-beating single, and a walk, he loaded the bases but would escape the jam by getting a groundout, using 19 pitches to get one out, but keeping the score 6-3. Ryne Stanek took over in the top of the sixth, and after two walks, he nearly gave up a game-tying three-run homer to Tony Kemp, but it would get snagged at the wall by Kyle Tucker to end the inning and strand both runners.

Astros clinch the second seed

The Astros added more insurance in the bottom of the sixth, putting two on base to set up a two-RBI triple by Michael Brantley to extend the lead to five runs. Brooks Raley took over out of the bullpen in the top of the seventh, and he erased a one-out single to get a scoreless inning. The runs kept coming across for Houston in the bottom of the inning, with a leadoff single by Gurriel turning into a two-run homer by Kyle Tucker to give them double-digits.

Kendall Graveman was next out of the bullpen in the top of the eighth, and after putting runners on the corners with no outs, he would allow a two-out RBI single to make it 10-4 before finishing the inning. With his next opportunity likely in ALDS Game 1, the Astros brought in closer Ryan Pressly in the top of the ninth to close out the game. He'd get a scoreless inning to finish off the win, which allows the Astros to stay in Houston after Sunday's regular-season finale to prepare for the ALDS.

Up Next: Game number 162, the final regular-season matchup of the year, will have a start time of 2:10 PM Central on Sunday, around the same time as all other MLB games on the final day of the season. Cole Irvin (10-15, 4.18 ERA) will make his final start of 2021 for Oakland, while Jose Urquidy (8-3, 3.56 ERA) will get a final tune-up before taking on his role on the Astros' postseason pitching staff.

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Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The winner of the Clemson-Texas first-round game on Dec. 21 will play No. 10 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the CFP quarterfinals.

For Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is from Austin, Texas, the game will be a homecoming.

“We recruited him hard," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Sunday, calling Klubnik “a winner. He will do whatever it takes to put his team in position to be successful.”

Added Sarkisian: “When he made the decision to go to Clemson, honestly I wasn’t surprised. Both his parents went to (Texas) A&M.”

Klubnik applauded the announcement of the game at Texas for Clemson's seventh CFP appearance.

“For him to be going to his first playoff in Austin, Texas, where he grew up, you can’t make that up,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Pretty cool opportunity for him and his family to go compete against Texas there in Austin.”

Swinney said his only visit to the Texas stadium was to watch Klubnik play in a high school playoff game.

“We’ve never played Texas or played in that stadium,” Swinney said. “... It’s going to be amazing. It’s one of the best venues in college football.”

The Longhorns (11-2) were seeded No. 5 in the CFP following their 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian said his players were “really excited” to see Texas land the No. 5 seed and have the opportunity to play in the Longhorns' first game against Clemson.

Texas safety Andrew Mukuba is a Clemson transfer. Sarkisian said players already were calling the matchup the “Mukuba Bowl.”

Swinney said: “I love Mukuba. I just love his spirit and love his heart. He was a really neat kid.

“I certainly wish he had been able to finish here. He did everything that was asked of him at Clemson. Made a bunch of big plays.”

Clemson (10-3) beat SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night to land an automatic CFP berth. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the CFP but were given the 12th and lowest seed. As the fifth-highest ranked league champion, the Tigers do not get a bye and instead must visit Texas.

Arizona State (11-2) earned a bye by rolling over Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. The Sun Devils were led by running back Cam Skattebo's 170 rushing yards in their impressive win to cap their first season in the Big 12.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan noted the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

“You proved them all wrong,” Stokan told Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona State players celebrated the announcement of their No. 4 seed.

Dillingham said he hopes the conference championship and berth in the CFP helps him recruit and continue to build the program.

“Hopefully this stage will help get our branding out there, and show people that we can be one of the newer brands in college football," Dillingham said. "Every 10-15 years a new brand shows up, and a new brand becomes a national brand.”No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.