HOUSTON -- By clinching their seventh American League West title in eight seasons on Tuesday night, the Astros can finally take their foot off the gas for the final four games of the season. That will be quite a relief for a club that’s been going full-throttle since falling 10 games behind the Mariners on June 18.

The Astros completed an improbable comeback in the division race by beating the Mariners, 4-3, on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park to win the AL West. They’ve won the division title in each of the last seven 162-game seasons, but this one was different.

“We were 10 games out in June and I was going into the office every single day and rallying the coaches and telling them, ‘Hey, let’s just keep pushing these guys, keep motivating the group,’” first-year manager Joe Espada said. “The players said, ‘We got this. We’re a good team. We’ve just got to go on a hot streak and we’ll turn this around.’ And we did. This is special.”

The Astros are back in the postseason for the eighth consecutive season and will be aiming to advance to their eighth AL Championship Series in a row. Over the past seven years, they’ve won four pennants and two World Series titles, falling a game short of reaching the Fall Classic last year.

As the No. 3 seed in the AL, the Astros will play host to the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series, which begins Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.

Here are answers to a few questions you might have:

What could the postseason roster look like?
After playing with a 28-man roster in September, teams revert to 26 players for the Wild Card Series. The Astros will likely carry 14 position players and 12 pitchers because they will only need three starting pitchers. The big decision will be whether to carry a third catcher (César Salazar), which would enable Joe Espada to play Victor Caratini at first base, or an extra position player like No. 14 prospect Shay Whitcomb. The health of Yordan Alvarez looms large, as well.

C: Yainer Diaz, Victor Caratini, César Salazar
1B: Jon Singleton
2B: Jose Altuve
SS: Jeremy Peña
3B: Alex Bregman
OF: Kyle Tucker, Jake Meyers, Jason Heyward, Chas McCormick
DH: Yordan Alvarez
UT: Mauricio Dubón, Grae Kessinger
SP: Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Yusei Kikuchi
RP: Josh Hader, Ryan Pressly, Bryan Abreu, Héctor Neris, Ronel Blanco, Kaleb Ort, Caleb Ferguson, Bryan King, Spencer Arrighetti

What’s still left to accomplish?
Nothing. The Astros can’t catch the Guardians or the Yankees, who are the top two seeds in the AL, so the final four games of the regular season will have no impact on Houston’s playoffs standing. They are the No. 3 seed and will play host to the Wild Card Series.

Who could the Astros play in the Wild Card Series?
As the No. 3 seed, the Astros will play the No. 6 seed, the third and final Wild Card team. The Royals and Tigers are tied for the fifth and sixth seeds, with the Twins two games back and Mariners 2 1/2 games back.

The Astros went 4-2 against the Tigers, winning two out of three in both series. They went 4-3 against the Royals -- they were swept in Kansas City in April and swept four games from the Royals from Aug. 29-Sept. 1. They went 2-4 against the Twins, losing two of three in Minneapolis and Houston.

What will the rotation look like?
Nothing has been announced, but it’s expected Brown, Valdez and Kikuchi will start Games 1-3 of the Wild Card series, in some order. They started in that order for the series against the Mariners at Minute Maid Park, so each would have one week between starts. That would make Blanco, Arrighetti and Justin Verlander, if he makes the roster, available in relief.

What health issues face the Astros?
There is no bigger health issue than Alvarez, who suffered a right knee sprain sliding into second base in the third inning on Sunday and was removed from the game. Now that the division is clinched, the Astros can rest Alvarez for the final four games of the regular season.

McCormick (right hand fracture) should be back for the playoffs, which would be a key development. He was swinging the bat better at the time he was injured after a rough season, but he’s a solid and versatile defender. Reliever Tayler Scott went on the IL on Saturday with a thoracic spine strain and wouldn’t be available until the second game of the WCS.

How many playoff games have the Astros played since this run began in 2017?
Houston has played in 97 postseason games since 2017, which is 24 more than any other team in that span (Dodgers have 73). The closest AL team is the Yankees, who have played 44 playoff games since 2017, including ALCS losses to the Astros in ’17, ’19 and ’22.

If the Astros make the ALCS for an eighth consecutive season, would they set a record?
The longest streak of consecutive LCS appearances belongs to the Braves with eight in a row from 1991 to 1999 (not counting 1994, when there were no playoffs because of a strike), so the Astros can tie it.