Three takeaways from a wild weekend against the Blue Jays

The Los Angeles Angels just wrapped up a wild three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. This series featured just about everything you could want. Good pitching, timely hitting, close games, and even a red carpet.

The Angels opened up their home slate by losing two of three against the Blue Jays. Losing a series isn't ideal obviously, but there're things to take away from this set, both positive and negative.

1) The LA Angels bullpen is an issue

This was known already, but the Angels bullpen is an issue. They lost two out of three, but all three games were extremely winnable. The starting pitching wasn't great for two of the three games, and the bats didn't show up for one, but the bullpen lost them two of the three games.

On Friday night, the home opener, Patrick Sandoval departed with a 3-1 lead. He pitched six quality innings against a very formidable lineup, allowing just one run. When your starting pitcher allows one run in six innings and departs with a two-run lead, that's a game you simply have to win.

Of course, the offense should do more than just three runs on three hits, but they can't be asked to win you every single game. The bullpen just has to get outs. I didn't like how Phil Nevin utilized the bullpen, but with the way they've pitched, it might not have mattered.

Yesterday's game saw the Angels up 6-0. Nevin left Detmers in for too long and the southpaw gave up a grand slam to cut the lead to 6-4. The bullpen allowed eight runs (six earned) over five innings of work. That's simply unacceptable. The offense scored 11 runs. That's enough to win.

The Angels need to figure out proper situations to use the guys they have. The team is talented enough to get back to the postseason but without an average bullpen (at least) the task becomes almost impossible.

3) The LA Angels can compete with anybody

The Blue Jays are a team many believe to be one of the best in the American League, and it's easy to see why. Their lineup is extremely formidable with a nice mix of power and speed. They have a solid bullpen, and a rotation featuring two of the better pitchers in the American League.

The Angels didn't see Kevin Gausman or Alek Manoah in this weekend series, but Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios have been good in the past, and Yusei Kikuchi had an excellent spring and fantastic first start of the season.

The Jays have won 90+ games in each of the last two seasons and were a playoff team last season. They have a shot at the AL East division title, or at least one of the AL Wild Card spots. All three games were well played, and two of them were within one run.

The Angels took two of three from Seattle and were extremely close to taking two of three from another playoff team.

The bullpen needs help as stated prior, but the team as a whole is a good one. This should be a fun year.