Fans will pull the plug on the season if Angels flop against a division rival again

Fans will go from bummed out to completely apathetic if the Angels continue both their team-wide slump and terrible in-division showing. To finish off the month of April, the Angels are heading to Seattle for only two games against a fellow team in the American League West...but these couple of games are incredibly pivotal given how poorly things are looking right now and the overall importance of how a team fares against teams in their division.

Fans will pull the plug on the season if the Angels flop again versus division rival

The Angels are 1-5 in games against the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, the only games they have played against AL West teams this year. In those six games, they were outscored 34 to 14. Those two series showed that any dreams fans had at the time of competing in the division were likely all for naught, and it also sparked a massive decline in play from the team for their next nine games -- a 3-6 record against the Giants, Pirates, and Twins.

The Angels were in first place not too long ago, but now find themselves in an all too familiar place of bringing up the rear. Meanwhile, the Mariners are in first place and have legitimate playoff hopes given how their offense has actually shown up so far, and the infrastructure they have with their rotation and bullpen. It does not feel like an overreaction to say that if the Angels get swept in this two-game series, fans might just give up on the season altogether. The stakes are as high as they could be for a two-game series in April. The Angels simply must show up if they want to keep their fans engaged.

Sam Blum of The Athletic posted results of a fan survey before the season that had a drastic drop-off in participation from the past couple of years. Not only that, but the confidence in the direction of the team was at an all-time low. As the team limps towards the month of May, the cries for Ron Washington and Perry Minasian to get fired are growing louder...and, of course, for Arte Moreno to sell the team. Granted, that would have happened even if the Angels were 27-0 instead of 12-15.

On the penultimate day of April, the Angels are sending Jack Kochanowicz to the mound and will face a struggling Bryce Miller. On the final day of the month, the sneaky team MVP, Tyler Anderson, will take on a youngster in Emerson Hancock. It's a great draw for the Angels, getting to miss Logan Gilbert (who's on the 15-Day injured list), Luis Castillo, and Bryan Woo's turns in the rotation. However, if the Angels continue to have horrific K:BBs on both sides of the ball (to steal a football term)...then the team will likely fall even farther behind in the divisional race.

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