LA Angels Series Preview: Getting to the Wild Card through Seattle

The LA Angels are inching closer and closer to snatching up the 2nd Wild Card spot in the AL with every series win. After a far too close for comfort series win against the Athletics we’ll see if the Angels can maintain this winning attitude while facing another AL West opponent.

Even if the LA Angels do push themselves into the 2nd Wild Card spot what are the chances they’ll be able to maintain their position all season long?

The Angels are only 2.5 games back from the 2nd Wild Card spot in the AL. Believe it or not, this team isn’t as bad as everyone says. I’m not going to deny that the starting pitching is the worst in all of baseball and I won’t ignore the bullpen woes as of late, but in the case of the bullpen these trends happen over the course of the season.

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No matter how good a team’s bullpen is there is no way that immaculate success can be maintained for 162+ games. Bullpens trend up and down, but with the Angels we’ve seen exactly how high of a ceiling this ‘pen can perform at.

At best the Angels have one of the best bullpens in baseball; there is a load of talent including Hansel Robles and the Ty Buttrey, with enough Triple A depth to keep fresh arms coming up and down all season and raise the life expectancy of these arms over the course of a season. That’s not even including the eventual return of 2018 closer Keynan Middleton.

Of course, the starting pitching has been an embarrassment, but that doesn’t mean that improvements aren’t already being made. We’ve seen the magic Griffin Canning has brought to this rotation and now with Andrew Heaney back on board things are looking a little more solid than usual. That still leaves a couple of starting spots in need of consistency, but at the same time the Angels are trending towards a more stable rotation.

I gotta say, for the team that the Angels are fielding right now they are in a very favorable position to compete. The team keeps getting younger and younger as the season progresses and as they embrace the youth they’re finding a plethora of new talent to work with. I know that I say this time and time again, but this team requires a fair amount of patience and even more faith.

This Angels team will compete deep down the stretch as they shore up their weaknesses bit by bit. By the end of the season we’re going to see a completely different team than we did in the month of April.

And that team will be one capable to pushing the Angels into a much deserved playoff spot.