Angels have a chance to play spoiler as they welcome the Rangers to town

To say things have not been going well for the Los Angeles Angels would be an understatement. The team that was five games over .500 at the trade deadline is fighting to stay under the 90 loss mark. Their collapse has been one for the record books, and not in a good way.

The Angels have gone 6-16 in the month of September and have won just 14 of their 49 games since the August 1 trade deadline. They've won just three series in the last two months including just one in September.

There isn't much of anything to play for at this point, but the Angels do have the chance to do something fun this week. Play spoiler. The Texas Rangers come to town with a 2.5 game lead in the AL West. They're looking to potentially clinch the division in Anaheim, and the Angels have a chance to push that potential celebration back.

LA Angels look to play spoiler as red-hot Rangers come to Anaheim

The Rangers have regained control in the AL West thanks in part to their five-game winning streak. The Astros have collapsed, losing each of their last four series, three of which came against the American League's worst teams in Oakland and Kansas City. The Astros were just swept on their home field by the lowly Royals.

The Angels are locked into fourth place in the AL West and all they really have to pay attention to right now are the lottery odds. The Angels currently have the sixth-worst record in baseball and have a 7.5% chance according to Tankathon to receive the first pick of the draft. Losing games down the stretch is probably in the best interest of the organization at this point, but playing spoiler against the division rival Rangers would be pretty sweet as well.

Game one of this three-game series begins on Monday night with Patrick Sandoval making the start for the Angels against Jon Gray. Sandoval will look for a good finish to a down year in what could be his final start of the season.