The Los Angeles Angels have quickly made the leap from mediocrity to contention with smart offseason moves. It’s early, but the AL West is shaping up to be a race between them and the Houston Astros.
The Los Angeles Angels have cooled down from their electric start with a 3-7 record in their last 10 games.
This bump in the road isn’t the end of the world, though. The team started off so well that it still holds a 16-10 overall record despite the rough patch.
They’d be 16-9 if not for Didi Gregorius‘s scorching bat, which downed them 4-3 in extra innings on a solo shot.
After years of meddling in the middle of the American League West, it appears that the team has finally broken through. Their rise to relevancy has been fueled by a few things.
Mike Trout is doing what he always does; mash. The superstar is hitting .293 with 10 home runs, tied for most in the MLB.
It appears that Andrelton Simmons has finally figured it out offensively.
The 28-year-old has slashed .315/.390/.483 with a .873 OPS and eight extra base hit’s.
The team has been able to withstand slow starts from veterans Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton, who have combined to hit .229.
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The brightest spot from the Angels has without a doubt been the red-hot start of prized acquisition Shohei Ohtani.
The jewel of the offseason has a sparkling .344 average, four home run’s and a ridiculous 1.065 OPS.
He has shown flashes of greatness on the mound, too. His 4.43 ERA doesn’t look great, but his 11.5 K/9 certainly does.
He’ll need to cut down on the walks if he really wants to succeed (9 in 20.1 innings), but he has plenty of time to work it out.
You put this all together and you have baseball’s seventh-best offense, with 4.9 runs per game.
They have the same number of runs (128) as their rivals, the Houston Astros. However, the Angels reached the number in one less game.
It’s still early, but it looks like the Angels will be able to stick keep pace with the Astros in terms of run production. If the Angels really want to take the next step, they’ll have to improve their rotation numbers.
The starting rotation has pitched to a 4.10 ERA, while Astros’ starters have thrown to a remarkable 2.63 mark. Maybe it’s unfair to compare them to a rotation that features Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Dallas Keuchel.
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There’s a lot of room for this Los Angels Angels team to see improvement. If anything, the early results are certainly promising.