The Los Angeles Angels have been one of baseball’s good stories in the early part of this season. They’re narrowly leading a tight three-team race in the AL West with the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners. The Angels’ Shohei Otahni has electrified the game with his dual role as starting pitcher & designated hitter. Mike […]
This season has been a long time coming for the Los Angeles Angels and manager Mike Scioscia. It seems hard to believe that it’s been five years since the Angels last made the playoffs, when they reached the American League Championship Series in 2009.
Since then, there has been the rise and fall of the Texas Rangers and the Angels’ flurry of free agent spending. There has been massive underachievement and the perception of the franchise changed from that of smart, fundamentally-sound overachievers, to a poorly constructed team of fat cats.
The Los Angeles Angels have won seven in a row coming into Wednesday’s games. The Halos are now at 40-43, and though that’s still 8 ½ games off the pace in the American League West, there’s still a half a season to play and a lot of talent in Anaheim. Let’s take a closer look at the Angels and see if this is the start of them making a definitive move in this division.
The Boston Red Sox have been the toast of baseball in the first four weeks of the season, rolling to an 18-8 record and the best record in the majors. After a soap opera year of 2012, a new manager and a new attitude have produced some new results. In today’s American League MLB coverage we’ll look at how the Red Sox have been doing it, speculate on their long-term chances and take a brief look at the rest of the AL.
Every team in baseball has two series left as the MLB playoff race hits its final week. Let’s take a look at how the races shape up, who plays who and what we have to look forward to in these closing days…
The Pittsburgh Pirates all but kissed their fading playoff hopes goodbye earlier this week when they lost three straight at home to the Milwaukee Brewers, and the “Buccos”, as the locals on the Allegheny River call them might get some more company in the coming few days as even the most optimistic observer of the Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays recognizes that these teams are down to zero margin for error as we size up the MLB playoff race entering the weekend’s games.
The AL East race is still running close to a dead heat, with the New York Yankees holding a half-game lead on the Baltimore Orioles entering Wednesday night’s games. As part of a look at the landscape in this division race, we’re also going to include the Los Angeles Angels. Because it looks like the Angels’ place in the MLB playoff picture is trying to chase down the AL East runner-up for the second wild-card.