Houston Astros star Jose Altuve earns AL Player of the Week off of 6 home runs vs. Texas, San Diego

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Astros are 18 games out from knowing whether they'll be postseason bound as a division champion or one of the wild-card teams.

Jose Altuve's week, however, not only showed that the team is bettering its chances of winning the American League West. It also put baseball on notice that the former AL MVP is firmly in playoff mode.

The video above offers fast facts about Altuve.

Houston's star second baseman was named the AL Player of the Week after launching six home runs in his six games, including five within a span of seven innings.

Altuve, whose award is the fifth in his career and his second of the season, also scored nine runs and accounted for eight runs batted in to support Houston's 5-1 week against the Texas Rangers and the San Diego Padres.

Altuve, Chas McCormick, and Framber Valdez, who is the starting pitcher Monday in Houston's series-opener against Oakland, are the only Astros to earn the AL Player of the Week award this season.

Entering Monday, Houston holds a two-and-a-half-game lead over Seattle and three-game lead over Texas for first place in the AL West.

If the postseason began, the Astros would be the division champion, earning the No. 2 seed and a bye into the AL Divisional Series. They would have homefield advantage against the winner of the Seattle-Minnesota best-of-three Wild Card Series.

ESPN Analytics currently give Houston a 99% chance of making the postseason and an 84% chance of clinching the AL West. The Astros also have an AL-best 13% chance of repeating as World Series champions, with Tampa Bay holding the next-best odds at 10%.

The MLB postseason begins on Oct. 3.

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