Can the LA Angels play spoiler to Oakland, Houston in final week?

The LA Angels season is far over. However, in the final week of the season, could the Angels play spoiler to two divisional foes?

In the final week of their season, the LA Angels will face off against the Oakland A’s for a two game set in Anaheim. Following that, they’ll go up against the Houston Astros for the last four games of 2019. And while the Angels don’t have anything obvious to play for, they could disrupt the Astros and A’s postseason hopes.

For the A’s it’s more obvious how the Angels can hurt them. The American League Wild Card race has been one of the best in recent memory, with the A’s, Cleveland baseball team, and Tampa Bay Rays all fighting for two spots.

More from Halo Hangout

• New York Post columnist has LA Angels bringing veteran starter back to LA
• Dodgers make wild mistake signing failed LA Angels starter
• Why LA Angels’ Qualifying Offer to Raisel Iglesias could become historical
• Both Gold Glove finalists for LA Angels getting snubbed is a complete joke
• Marcus Stroman definitely appears to be interested in the LA Angels

As it sits going into games on Tuesday, the A’s would be hosting the Rays as they’re up 1.5 games on Tampa Bay. Cleveland sits directly behind Tampa though, by only 0.5 of a game. That means they’re two games behind Oakland, which means…

The Angels, theoretically, could but the A’s out of the Wild Card Game after their two games. If the Angels can rally and win two straight games (for the first time in over two weeks), they’ll give the Rays and Cleveland a good shot at knocking the A’s out of the game going into the weekend.

For the Rays, they’ll face off against a Yankees squad, making their case difficult. Cleveland, however, has a real chance to make some noise as they’ll play the lowly Chicago White Sox for the next three days.

As for this weekend against the Astros, the Angels can play spoiler in a much less significant way. The Astros have already celebrated their AL West championship (in front of the Angels), and now are playing for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Their competition is from the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Astros are currently tied with the Yankees with 102 victories, while the Dodgers sit at 100. Home field advantage in baseball isn’t as big of a deal as it is in football or basketball, but it has still shown to be a boost for teams at times.

So this one is pretty simple. All three of the team vying for home field advantage non-competitive teams over the final weekend. While the Astros take on the Angels for a four game series, the Dodgers will face the Giants while the Yankees travel to Texas to face the Rangers. Both of those series are three games, and could both be sweeps.

So what it really comes down to is that even if the Angels can win one game against the Astros, it may be enough to make them travel to New York for 4 of 7 games in a potential ALCS. If they can win two, the Dodgers could end up hosting the Astros in a perfect rematch of the 2017 World Series.