Season On The Line

By: Mike Rifkin

The most talked about subject leading up to the MLB trade deadline was what the Angels should do with Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani, currently the frontrunner for AL MVP, is a free agent at the season’s end. The Angels had to convince him that the primary goal was to win, so they kept Ohtani at the deadline and added to their roster. They added Lucas Giolito from the White Sox, CJ Cron, and Randal Grichuk from the Rockies. 

The Angels believed they had done enough to make a run at one of the three Wild Cards, but the Angels are 2-8 in their last ten games and have lost six in a row. The Angels were 8-1 in a nine-game stretch against the Yankees, Pirates, and Tigers before this stretch, where they have lost series to the Blue Jays, Braves, and Mariners, two of which have a significant impact because it hurts them in their pursuit of a Wild Card position. Now Anaheim’s tough stretch continues tonight when they play the Giants in a 2002 World Series rematch; San Francisco is in pursuit of a Wild Card in the National League, but after this series, the Angels will hit the road to play the Rangers and Astros, before returning home to play the Rays. 

The Angels are currently seven games out of the last wild card spot and have to jump four teams in front of them. I understand they wanted to show Ohtani they thought they could win in this position. But the Angels’ season turned on its head when Mike Trout got hurt, and now the season can end before Trout returns. Over the next two weeks, the Angels’ season is on the line, and if they fail to make the playoffs, what does the future hold for Ohtani? Because if he leaves and all the Angels are left with is a compensation pick, they’ll regret what they did at the trade deadline.