TEMPE, Ariz. — It had been 10 months — 306 days, to be exact — since Mike Trout played in a competitive baseball game, so long that the team the Angels center fielder suffered a season-ending injury against in 2021 no longer exists.
Trout was running from second to third on a Jared Walsh fly ball to shallow left field in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians last May 17 when he felt a pop in his lower leg and suffered a right-calf strain.
The three-time American League most valuable player hobbled to the third-base dugout at Angel Stadium and never played again, a late-July setback sidelining him for the rest of the season.