LA Angels attempting to turn season around for the second time versus LA Dodgers

When the Angels seemed destined for another doomed season in May, they were staring at a series against the MLB-best Los Angeles Dodgers coming up on the calendar. As we know now, the Angels were able to change the entire view of their season with that series. A sweep of the Dodgers hepled turned the Angels from a basement dweller, already surrounded by trade rumors involving their best players, into a team flirting with .500 and potentially buying at the deadline instead. 

Now, after a start-to-finish dominating win to kick off the Freeway Series in Dodger Stadium, the Angels are looking to recreate the same magic to turn their season around once again. 

While the MLB Twitter account may rather focus on Shohei Ohtani’s home run that cut the Angels lead to six runs, the story from last night was the Halos’ dominance and refusal to give up despite some fans already doing so. Zach Neto started the game off with a solo home run on the first pitch he saw, and the Angels never looked back. It was a team-wide win, and the type of win that makes it difficult to fully quit on this team. 

Time for some Angels magic against Dodgers...

With this cross-town rivalry magic the Angels have going, can they make one last ditch effort to save their season? They sat five games under .500 and six games back of a Wild Card spot after Monday’s win, and they’d have to pass four teams in the standings as well as the New York Yankees (who may be the easiest one to jump). 

The Angels simply have to find another winning streak. While the Dodgers should have swept the Angels on paper, something about this matchup consistently finds the Halos on top. If they sweep the Dodgers again, then series against the Athletics and Cincinnati Reds await them. This is the stretch for the Angels to make their run if they’re going to make one. A strong win over the Dodgers should have the team playing hot and confident. Plus, with Jack Kochanowicz and potentially Tyler Anderson out of the rotation, the scheduled losses could be far rarer. 

The Angels, by all means, are not a playoff team. But for some reason, they own the Dodgers this season. If they can parlay a sweep of their I-5 rivals into a winning streak, then maybe Dodger Stadium won’t be the only place with playoff baseball in Los Angeles this season.

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