The Angels look to capitalize on sweeping Dodgers by actually winning division games

The Los Angeles Angels are an unstoppable force right now but they are about to meet an immovable object. Nobody in the world would have predicted an Angels sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Dodger Stadium, but here we are. Coming out of back-to-back series against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres with a 4-2 record is a massive development for the Halos, but they are about to arrive at the crossroads of whether or not this team can actually continue to compete.

It's entirely possible that after the 2025 season ends, the baseball world will look back on the Angels sweep of the Dodgers as the biggest fluke series of the year. It might be the anomaly of all anomalies, but the Halos have the opportunity to right the ship and shake off their biggest bugaboo.

The Angels look to capitalize on Dodgers sweep by actually winning division games

The Angels have a 1-7 combined record against their fellow American League West teams, are 1 game back of the A's in the standings, 3.5 games back of both the Rangers and Astros, and 6 games back of the first place Mariners. Even in this early juncture of the season, they desperately need to make up ground in order to show that they are not going to simply fall out of the divisional race. If the four-game series against the A's goes poorly like the other's did, this iteration of the Angels could easily be defined by their inability to win the most important games on their schedule.

Against the Athletics in Sacramento this week, in what will be the first time the two teams square off, the Angels will be sending their non-Yusei Kikuchi starters to the mound. Tyler Anderson was sterling in his two starts against the Mariners and the Astros. However, José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz and Kyle Hendricks have a combined 7.56 ERA, 5.53 FIP, 1.84 WHIP, 3.96 K/9 and 4.68 BB/9 in their starts against AL West opponents. The Angels' issues in their bullpen are well-known, so they seriously need their starters to carry them in this series like they have all year.

In their series finale against LAD, Kenley Jansen, Héctor Neris and Reid Detmers were not available, but should be ready for the game tonight despite their workload over the weekend. Ryan Zeferjahn also pitched twice against the Dodgers and will likely be unavailable tonight (Zeferjahn actually threw the most pitches of any Angels reliever vs. LAD), and the same goes for folk hero, Shaun Anderson, who tossed 2.2 innings yesterday. Not only are the relievers shaky, but they are over-taxed.

Lastly, the Athletics rank in the top ten of all teams this season in batting average, SLG and home runs, and the series is taking place in the incredibly hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park. Their lineup is young but intimidating. The most concerning facet of this series is the A's ability to put balls in play -- their 353 strikeouts are the fifth fewest in baseball. The Angels need their shaky defense to show up, especially given the starters they are deploying.

Believing in momentum is a fallacy, but Angels fans will be clinging to any iota of hope they gained in that Freeway Series as their favorite team is put to the test in Sactown. Let's go, boys.

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