The Angels' bullpen will make them contenders either this year or in the future

As the Angels continue to trod along with the dog days of summer approaching, they seem to be turning a corner. Despite an atrocious series against the Orioles last weekend, they have been playing incredible baseball over the past few weeks. Inconsistent, sure, but the glimpses of an exceptional team are there.

And one of the best units, somehow, is their bullpen. After a month or so of the season, the only player with an ERA under 5.00 to pitch out of the bullpen for the Angels was infielder Nicky Lopez, who pitched a scoreless inning in the Opening Day onslaught in Chicago.

Now, the Angels have a handful of relievers who have all been absolutely nails for the past month and change. Since his disaster outings against Detroit, Reid Detmers has an ERA of 0.53 and has struck out 26 batters in 17 innings, morphing into one of the best relievers in baseball. Kenley Jansen has largely been as advertised in the ninth. Ryan Zeferjahn is a high-leverage reliever for this team has posted a 2.70 ERA in June. Brock Burke has been even better with a 2.08 mark this month, and Hunter Strickland has still yet to allow a run as he serves as a glue guy in the Halos' bullpen.

With an improvement in an important pitching stat currently happening in Anaheim, this bullpen has been executing at a high level. They have been protecting leads consistently, as the rotation or lineup is usually to blame for losses nowadays.

And this bullpen is going to help the Angels contend. The only question is whether that is now or in the coming years.

If this Angels' offense can begin to provide a bit more consistency, there is genuine reason to believe they are an addition or two away at the deadline from at least making some noise in the Wild Card or AL West races. Christian Moore's New York series had some fun moments, but if he can provide some juice at second base that would go a long way in making this lineup more thorough.

And if that offense does begin scoring enough to win, this bullpen can protect those leads in the summer and potentially even into the playoffs.

And if the Angels keep meandering around .500 or dipping a bit too far to justify a run at things, this bullpen provides Perry Minasian with attractive assets to deal at the trade deadline. The Luis Garcia deal has been a major success, and outside of Detmers, none of the aforementioned relievers are locked in part of the Angels' future. If Minasian can once again find a surplus of value in his relievers at the deadline, he can fill the future holes of this organization as the team regroups for 2026 and beyond.

Either way, these current Angels' relievers and their recent dominance is going to contribute to winning baseball in Anaheim. Whether they are wearing different jerseys or not is the only question surrounding them.

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