Angels season slipping fast but AL West chaos offers the perfect lifeline

There's been a lot of talk about how historically good the NL Central was in April. Every team exited the division with a record of .500 or better, and the five teams combined for a ridiculous +79 run differential that easily paced the league.

The AL West, on the other hand, has most certainly not been that. Only two teams -- the Athletics and Seattle Mariners -- ended April with at least as many wins as losses. The A's, by virtue of their 17-14 record, led the pack, and they wrapped up the season's first month with a -5 run differential. A division of titans this is not.

That most certainly bodes well for the fading Los Angeles Angels, who have rapidly sunk to the bottom of the AL West standings thanks to a 1-9 stretch during their last 10 games. That window wiped out most of the good vibes from the team's measured start, sending the perennially irrelevant Halos into an all-too-familiar tailspin.

Luckily, they play in a division that seemingly no one wants to win, and their -11 run differential in March and April is actually relatively competent compared to some other Junior Circuit squads. Is there enough time to get the train back on the tracks?

AL's incompetence offers Angels' best path back to playoffs in a decade

The American League as a whole this year is far weaker than its National League counterpart, which offers some hope that the Angels can stay in shouting distance of at least the wild card race in the first half.

One thing worth hanging your hat on if you're an Angels fan: no one in the A.L. can score this year. The Halos rank second in their division and third in the American League in runs scored at the end of April with 150. While the New York Yankees (153 runs scored) are the clear pennant favorites thanks to an elite pitching staff and Aaron Judge-led offense, the Houston Astros (168) are the only other team that has displayed more offensive prowess thus far than the Angels... and their pitching staff ranks last in all of MLB by a country mile with 194 runs given up.

Does any of this mean that Los Angeles will find a way to sneak into the postseason picture for the first time since 2014? Probably not, especially if the team's tumultuous bullpen continues to be an issue; the Angels' pitching staff ranks ahead of only Houston in the A.L. in runs surrendered (161).

But hope springs eternal, especially when Mike Trout is playing like an MVP, and José Soriano is pitching like a Cy Young candidate. The Angels can't afford too many more 1-9 stretches if they want to stay relevant within the postseason picture, but it's a testament to the wild, wild (AL) West that they've been able to survive one at all.

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