Mike Trout due back Friday to help the Angels win a wild card spot

Mike Trout is expected back from his thumb injury on Friday and is ready to help the Los Angeles Angels in a very crowded AL wild card race.

After 14 plate appearances in four minor league rehab games, Mike Trout will rejoin the Angels for their home game on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. Trout was 2-for-9 with four walks and two strikeouts in the four minor league games with the Inland Empire 66ers of the High-A California League. The team believes he’s ready for big league action as they attempt to make the playoffs for the first time in three years.

The Angels won the game in which Trout injured his thumb on May 28, upping their record to 26-27 at the time. In their 39 games without Trout, they went 19-20 to make their record 45-47 at the All-Star break. That puts them a very distant 16.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West, but the soft middle of the American League presents an opportunity for the below-.500 Angels to snag a wild card spot.

The struggling Yankees are at the top of the wild card teams, with a 45-41 record. It was just over a month ago that the Yankees were 38-23 and four games up in the NL East. They’ve gone 7-18 since then and now sit 3.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the division. The Tampa Bay Rays are tied with the Yankees at 3.5 games back but have a slightly lower winning percentage. They hold the second wild card spot in what should be an exciting fight to the finish.

AL Wild Card Standings at the All-Star break:

45-41, .523—New York Yankees

47-43, .522—Tampa Bay Rays

45-43, .511—Minnesota Twins (1 GB)

44-43, .506—Kansas City Royals (1.5 GB)

45-47, .489—Los Angeles Angels (3 GB)

43-45, .489—Texas Rangers (3 GB)

43-47, .478—Seattle Mariners (4 GB)

42-46, .477—Baltimore Orioles (4 GB)

41-47, .466—Toronto Blue Jays (5 GB)

The FanGraphs Depth Charts project the Red Sox, Indians, and Astros to win their respective divisions in the American League. The Indians and Astros look to win by big margins and the Red Sox are projected to win the East by five games. The rest of the teams are projected to finish very much like they are now.

Projected End-of-Season AL Wild Card Standings:

85-77, .525—New York Yankees

83-79, .514—Tampa Bay Rays

81-81, .500—Toronto Blue Jays (2 GB)

80-82, .496—Los Angeles Angels (3 GB)

80-82, .496—Kansas City Royals (3 GB)

80-82, .496—Texas Rangers (3GB)

78-84, .479—Seattle Mariners (5 GB)

78-84, .479—Minnesota Twins (5 GB)

78-84, .479—Baltimore Orioles (5 GB)

Of course, as every baseball fans knows, anything can happen over a half-season’s worth of games. The Kansas City Royals started the year with a record of 10-20. They’ve been on a tear since, going 34-23. The Royals are very much in the hunt and have a group of core players who will be free agents at the end of the season, including Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and Mike Moustakas. This looks like the last hurrah for the team that went to back-to-back World Series in 2014 and 2015. They would love to add another championship trophy to the one they earned against the Mets in 2015.

The Angels have only made the playoffs once in Mike Trout’s career. You hate to see a great player miss out on the big stage. Based on where they are right now, the Angels have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014. If Trout continues to play like he played before the injury, he could lead them to a wild card spot.

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Don’t forget that Trout was off to an incredible start before the injury, with a .337/.461/.742 batting line in his first 47 games. This is the guy who has been the best player in baseball for the last five years and who was playing at his peak before the injury. He’s already won two AL MVP Awards and finished second three times. There’s an easy argument to be made that he should have won four or five MVP awards by now. Getting a player as good as Trout back from injury makes the Angels a very interesting team to watch in the second half.

Trout was so good early on that he’s still seventh in the AL in Wins Above Replacement (per FanGraphs) despite having played just over half as many games as most of the players in the top 10. Based on current value and rest-of-season projections, he could still finish among the top five position players in the AL in FanGraphs WAR while playing roughly three-quarters of the season.

Projected End-of-Season AL WAR leaders:

7.3 WAR—Aaron Judge

6.7 WAR—Mookie Betts

6.5 WAR—Jose Altuve

6.4 WAR—Carlos Correa

6.2 WAR—Mike Trout

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The numbers don’t really do Trout justice. He’s just a joy to watch. He hits, he runs, he plays centerfield. He’s a modern day Mickey Mantle. It’s a shame the baseball world won’t see Trout play in the All-Star game this year because he’s been particularly good in the Mid-Summer Classic, with a career batting line of .462/.533/1.000. He’ll be on the field in the second half, though, and that’s more important to the Angels’ playoff hopes than the All-Star game.