Angels Opening Day: 5 Key Storylines to watch in 2020

The Los Angeles Angels finally have their long-awaited Opening Day on Friday, so we looked at five key storylines to follow for the 2020 season.

It’s Friday in July, but today isn’t a normal Friday. After all, today is Opening Day for the Los Angeles Angels and baseball is finally back.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Back in February, when teams began first reporting to Spring Training, there was nary a thought that the 2020 MLB season wouldn’t start on time. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced us to wait until after the original date for the All-Star Game to finally start their 2020 campaign. As long and strange as this trip has been, with stops for the shutdown and ensuing negotiations to make it happen, we have reached our destination nonetheless.

However, the journey is not yet done. The late start has forced the league to condense the season into just 60-games, ensuring that each and every game will count for something.

Like every team in the league, the Angels are starting at the same place, with a clean slate and only forward to go. Will they have enough to get to the postseason for the first time since 2014? Will Mike Trout miss time? Will Jo Adell debut in 2020?

Let’s look at the key storylines that the Angels will face during their 2020 season.

Angels Top Storylines: Mike Trout’s availability and the playoffs

While pitching has always been the Achilles heel for the Angels, there is no arguing how indispensable Mike Trout is and what he means to their playoff hopes on a yearly basis. That is especially true during a 60-game season, where every game counts.

That’s one reason why the Angels must have mixed feelings for Trout and the impending birth of his first child.

On one hand, the team is fully supportive of Trout and his wife Jessica as they welcome this blessing into their lives, especially amid such uncertainty in the world due to COVID-19. Obviously the team wants the baby, the mother, and Trout himself to remain healthy through this and will do everything they can to help as needed.

On the other hand, the child’s arrival is due on August 3rd, just 11 days into the 2020 season. While that comes on an off-day, Trout will undoubtedly utilize paternity leave to be with his family, as he should. That could range from one to three days, with the latter being the maximum allowed under MLB’s paternity leave policy.

But what if it is more?

As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic puts us all at risk, and that increases in high-risk places like hospitals. The Angels will ensure that he is tested daily so that he won’t have to quarantine for 24-48 hours before his return. However, what happens if Trout tests positive? He will then need to test negative for the virus twice 24-hours apart and show no symptoms for 72 hours before being allowed to rejoin the team.

Don’t get me wrong. Trout should certainly be with his family during this time. However, it does come with its risks and the Angels could see themselves without Trout for a minimum of two games and perhaps more depending on test results.

Can the team endure his absence for a few games? We’ll find out quickly.

Angels Top Storylines: Which rookies will debut in 2020?

As we already know, Jo Adell will not break camp with the Angels and will need to wait to make his MLB debut. He’ll see his shot at some point in 2020, but given service time concerns, the team is going to make him force their hand in order to gain another season of contractual control.

However, the game’s number third-ranked prospect is far from the only rookie that will look to get his first look at big-league life in 2020.

In particular, the Angels have a few arms on their 60-man roster that could be given a look in 2020 if the need arises.

2020 first-round pick Reid Detmers came to the Angels with as much polish as any college pitcher in recent memory. While he won’t light up a radar gone with high-90s heat, the word often attached to Detmers is “pitchability.”

The lefty from Louisville features some of the best control of any minor leaguer and can use any of his pitches to get strikeouts. Swings and misses were plentiful during his time with the Cardinals, where he averaged 13.4 K/9 over his 191 innings of work, including a 19.6 K/9 mark in 2020 before the season was shut down.

Like Detmers, fellow 2020 draftee Adam Seminaris is in summer camp and features a similar pedigree to the first-round pick. However, the former Long Beach State lefty doesn’t the same track record at Detmers, but he K’d 14.7 per nine innings over his 22 innings in 2020 and averaged 8.0 over his three-year career.

Both will have an uphill battle to reach the majors in 2020. However, both profile as quick movers through the system due to advanced secondary pitches. Promoting them this quickly would be odd given the shortened season, but they are both on the 60-man roster for a reason, and if the need arises, the Angels could turn to either as needed.

Angels Top Storylines: Will Shohei Ohtani continue to shine as a two-way star?

As previously mentioned above, Shohei Ohtani makes his long-awaited return to the mound on Sunday, giving Angels fans their first glimpse of the two-way start pitching since his rookie season ended abruptly.

Will the Angels see the same pitcher that put up a 3.31 ERA, a 3.57 FIP, and an 11.0 K/9 in 51 innings in 2018, or will Ohtani be something different? Better yet, will the two-way push be worth the risk?

By having Ohtani pitch, the Angels are committing to using him just once a week on the mound, meaning the team needs to carry a six-man rotation. Likewise, they are also committed to giving him off days both before and after his starts, meaning he won’t be in the line-up those days. Some of those absences will coincide with team travel days, but there will be others where he simply won’t be available.

While the upside of Ohtani in the rotation is huge for an Angels team in need of pitching, he is also a significant contributor to the lineup. After putting up 22 home runs and a 159 wRC+ as a rookie, Ohtani returned to the lineup in 2019 with 18 home runs and a 123 wRC+. That’s a huge bat to lose from the line-up twice a week. It will be especially evident when Trout misses time or on the chance that Albert Pujols or Justin Upton are unable to rebound.

If the 2020 campaign is merely an exhibition, at least it will provide a fair analysis of whether Ohtani’s two-way status is sustainable over the long haul. A six-man rotation is a good problem to have, but can a team maintain it when they’ve struggled consistently to keep five starters healthy?

Angels Top Storylines: Will the expanded MLB postseason help?

Major League Baseball threw the Los Angeles Angels a hail mary on Thursday. Now the only thing the team needs to do is catch the ball.

Yes, that was a football analogy on a baseball article.

On Thursday, the league and MLBPA came to an agreement on expanding the postseason for the 2020 season. Instead of there being five teams from each league, there will now be eight. Opening up three additional playoff spots in each league is a huge change and can be advantageous for the Angels.

But there’s a catch.

Instead of all those extra playoff spots being Wild Cards, awarded to the team’s with the best records outside of division winners, the league went with a different format. Each of the divisional winners will receive a playoff ticket, as will each of the runner-ups in each division. The final two spots will be decided by a Wild Card standing, just as it normally is.

That adds an additional level of intrigue for the Angels, as well as the rest of the bubble teams in the league. Now, instead of playing for first place or a top record, they have to aim for second place or higher.

According to FanGraphs and ZiPS projections, the Angels have a 25.3% chance of finishing second in the American League West and a 20.5% chance of winning the Wild Card. The service gives them an aggregate chance of making the postseason of 57.4%. That is currently the ninth-highest among AL teams.

It’s an outside chance, but the Angels could see the postseason in 2020. If not, at least they should be in the picture throughout the entire 60-game sprint.