The Angels are walking their way back into being competitive

Going into their weekend series against the rival Dodgers, the LA Angels were walking at an MLB-worst rate. As a team, they sported a walk rate of 6.7%, good for 2.4 walks-per-game. Both of those were the worst marks in MLB, and was a main factor in the organizational-wide slump that occurred in late-April/early May.

The Angels were able to sweep the billion dollar Dodgers in large part due to walking. They still launched home runs (and now sit at third in the MLB with 1.44 big flies per game), but also walked 14 times in the Freeway Series. There were constantly runners on base, turning what are usually solo homers into multi-run swings against what should be the best team in baseball.

In the series opener, Yoán Moncada hit a home run right after Nolan Schanuel walked -- setting the Angels up for success. Those two Moncada RBIs matched the Dodgers' output for the entire game. In the offensive showdown Saturday night, the Angels took an early lead against Clayton Kershaw. Taylor Ward and Jorge Soler walked, loading the bases for Logan O'Hoppe to drive in two runs on a single to left field. Soler came around to score on a double from the hot bat of Matthew Lugo as well. In the 4th inning, Zach Neto drove in Adell -- who had walked two batters prior -- on a sacrifice fly to extend the Angels' lead at the time.

To complete the sweep, the Halos walked six times. Moncada walked to set up Ward for his team-leading 12th home run to give the Angels a 3-0 lead. They extended that to a four-run lead in the third inning when Schanuel walked to start the inning and later scored on a Travis d'Arnaud single. While the game was eventually won on a d'Arnaud solo shot, it was the walks early on in the game to give the Angels a fighting chance against the Dodgers.

Of the 65 home runs the Angels have hit this season, only 19 of those have come with runners on base. This is the reason for the Angels' below-average offense. They can hit home runs as well as just about any team, but just do not consistently put runners on base for their sluggers to drive in. This Dodgers series meant a lot to the Angels - we don't even have to mention the Ohtani of it all. Most of all, it was proof of concept for how the Angels can turn this season around and compete in the American League.

They are effectively out of their slump, and with a series against the Athletics on deck, the Angels need to keep walking then slugging their way to victories.

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