Don't look now but the Angels are on a roll! Winners of six of their last seven games overall, Los Angeles has put themselves back into contention for the final AL Wild Card spot. Finishing their past homestand with a record of 5-1, the Angels find themselves potentially in a spot that they haven't been in a while. It's been led by their pitching, normally a weakness of the team.
The Angels pitching staff posted a 3.33 ERA over the homestand and the bullpen dominated, throwing 23 1/3 innings with 22 strikeouts and posting a 0.77 ERA.
Catcher Matt Thaiss spoke on the team's successful week and what worked for them.
“It was a great week for us on the offensive side of the ball, and defensively and pitching,” Thaiss said. “The pitching staff really stepped up this week, especially the bullpen. Every guy out there came and did a great job, and we're excited to get on the road.
Los Angeles now finds themselves just 1.5 games back of the Wild Card picture and they sit just 6.5 back of the Texas Rangers for the AL West division lead. Texas and Los Angeles open up a four game series in Arlington, which should provide somewhat of a measuring stick for the Angels.
With the trade deadline coming up and the impending free agency of star two-way player Shohei Ohtani, it's imperative that the Angels stay competitive and keep up the winning ways.
“We've got a tough week ahead, but I will enjoy this one and get on the plane and go,” Nevin said. “We played well. We played clean games, although today we made a couple of mistakes defensively that let them back into it. But I think when we play our best and we play clean games and we swing the bats the way we are capable of, we can beat anybody.”
When you have two of the best players in baseball on your roster, you should be able to compete with anyone. This Angels team is resilient and maybe this is the season that they get back to the postseason.
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