3 Angels takeaways from the biggest series win of the season vs. the Rangers

The Los Angeles Angels just won their biggest series of the season, taking three of four in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers came to Anaheim and outclassed the Angels in April, and the Angels responded by doing the same on the Rangers' home field.

The Angels have won 9 of their last 11 and continue to play their best baseball of the season. They sit at 39-32 on the season, just one game out of a postseason spot and 4.5 games back of Texas for first place in the AL West.

This series included many memorable moments for us fans to enjoy. It also gave us some important takeaways.

1) LA Angels series takeaway: There is only one Shohei Ohtani, enjoy him

What more can we say? Shohei Ohtani is in the midst of what I believe to be his best offensive stretch in the majors, and practically carried the Angels to a series win.

Ohtani had seven hits in 12 at-bats in the four games. Four of those hits left the yard, all to the opposite field. Ohtani was launching balls into the second deck in left-center in Texas, which is something that simply is not normal. He drove in eight runs and walked seven times.

Ohtani's longballs were clutch. His two-run shot in the series finale extended the Angels lead from one to three. They'd need those insurance runs with the Rangers scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth. In the first game of the series, Ohtani tied the game in the seventh with a solo shot, and then his two-run home run in the 12th gave the Angels the lead they would not relinquish.

On the mound, Ohtani still wasn't quite as dominant as we've seen, but he was able to get through six and limit this high-powered Rangers offense to two runs. He outpitched Nathan Eovaldi who has established himself as an AL Cy Young contender.

Ohtani continues to do things we've never seen before. He's enjoying his best offensive season while still putting up ace numbers. He's on a 50 home run pace while rankning third in all of baseball in strikeouts.

Few players have the capability of carrying a team. During the last couple of weeks when the Angels have been winning consistently, Ohtani has been right in the center of it.

2) The LA Angels bullpen proves once again that it is elite

The Angels bullpen has gone from a weakness to a strength. I think it's fair to say that at this point. This bullpen against the best offense in the league was dominant all series long.

In the series opener, the Angels needed a lot of bullpen since the game went 12 innings. Tyler Anderson did his job going six, but the offense couldn't find a way until the twelfth. It only got that far because of the bullpen.

Chris Devenski, Jacob Webb, and Carlos Estevez sent it to extras. Who can forget the work Sam Bachman did to keep the Rangers off the board in the tenth and eleventh? Even Aaron Loup pitched pretty well, only allowing the ghost runner to score.

Jaime Barria failed to complete five innings in his start. The bullpen was asked to get 14 outs and did so without allowing an earned run. Barria exited the game trailing 3-1, and the Angels scored six unanswered to win.

With the bullpen exhausted, the Halos had to turn to some of their lesser members of the bullpen in the third game, and it showed. Jimmy Herget allowed three runs and Tucker Davidson allowed one. The Angels lost because most of their good relievers were unavailable.

The finale saw Ohtani go six, and the bullpen shine again. Chris Devenski and Jose Soriano pitched scoreless innings, but Carlos Estevez struggled mightily. After walking the bases loaded, Jacob Webb came on and finished them off. He allowed one run to score, but held the lead he was given and earned the biggest save of his career.

The bullpen is deep and was dominant all series long. In 15.2 innings pitched, the bullpen allowed just five earned runs. Four of them were from guys who don't have prominent roles. Herget isn't even with the team anymore.

Remember how dominant Matt Moore was? Remember Ben Joyce? Those guys are on the IL and will be back eventually to join this new-look bullpen. When the group is whole, it doesn't feel like a stretch to say it's one of the better units in baseball.

As long as the Angels have a good bullpen, they can remain in games they're behind and they can close out close ones. Earlier this season the Angels blow some of the games they won in this series. It's awesome to see.