LA Angels: 3-point checklist for September baseball

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Aug 5, 2021; Arlington, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Angels second baseman David Fletcher (22) steals second base against Texas Rangers second baseman Andy Ibanez (77) in the first inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /

The LA Angels come into their first full September series at 66-68.

The Halos are 9.5 games out of the AL Wild Card race, so they look toast.

Regardless of their playoff situation, there are three things I want to see happen from now until the rest of the season (October 3rd).

The LA Angels need to go 7-0 against the Texas Rangers

21 out of the LA Angels’ remaining 28 games are against teams over .500. So, the Angels need to win every easy game they have. All seven of those games are against the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have the third-worst record in the MLB at 47-86. The Halos have had some good success against them, going 8-4 on them so far this season.

It’s why beating them seven times is attainable. Four of those games are going to be at home (this upcoming four-game series), and they already have had their way with Texas this year.

The Rangers have won three out of their last four, so we may be catching them at the wrong time. We’ve won three out of our last four too, however, and against better teams.

We’re the better team than the Rangers, and we need to take advantage of finally catching a division rival who isn’t any good. That’s not the case with any of the other three teams in this division.

Brandon Marsh, LA Angels. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

The LA Angels need to win or tie every series in the ten game home stand

The LA Angels have all road games after this upcoming Rangers series, other than a ten game home stand from September 17th to September 26th.

All of these games are going to be against good teams, in all three of the other AL West rivals.

The first series is going to be a three-game series against the A’s, the second is going to be a four-game series against the Astros, and the last is going to be a three-game series against the Mariners.

That’s a brutal stretch right there, but if the Angels want to gain respect from their rivals, they need to win or tie each series.

Also, they could possibly crawl back into the playoff race if they can go 6-4 or better in this race, as they’d be beating up on some teams ahead of them. They also would then have an easier road trip than it was for the home stand, as they’ll be playing three games against the Rangers after that and their final three against the Mariners.

Jo Adell, LA Angels. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

The LA Angels need to build momentum for next season

The LA Angels likely won’t make the playoffs this year, especially with it looking like Mike Trout very well may not ever come back.

They can still build momentum for next year, however. This is going to be a matter of individual performers making improvements in these final four weeks or so.

It means that we start seeing Brandon marsh steal bases, and Jo Adell start to hit home runs. It means that we see Shohei Ohtani get up to 50 home runs.

We want an MVP for Shohei Ohtani, and we want to see him keep his ERA at 3.00 or lower.

Perhaps David Fletcher can get back to a .300 batting average, or Justin Upton can start having the success he was originally having before his injury.

The Angels have the opportunity to have many of their players take positive steps into a 2022 season that could end up being really good for the franchise.

2022 has potential, but it’s never smart to bank on anything in this league. The most important thing is going to be how the Halos perform for the rest of this season.

Next. Encouraging signs from Yankees series

If they can play the way they just did in the Yankees series, they’ll shock the world.

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