It’s both an unfortunate possibility and an exciting prospect that we’ve gotten to the point where Shohei Ohtani may not finish the season as a Los Angeles Angel. It’s unfortunate because every baseball fan would love to see Ohtani and Mike Trout in the playoffs after six years of two of the sport’s generational talents playing together has yet to produce even a winning season for the Angels. It’s also fun to consider what the Halos could fetch for a two-way star who has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in the major leagues.
The Angels will hold onto their metronome if there’s even a slim chance they can break MLB’s longest playoff drought. But a practical evaluation of their outlook would indicate that’s extremely unlikely (Fangraphs rates their playoff odds as 11.3%, even after all five teams above them in the wild-card race lost Tuesday night, while they won). Not only have the Angels once again been mediocre this season—many of the players who have helped them match that low bar are now on the injured list, including Mike Trout, Jo Adell, Brandon Drury, Anthony Rendon and Gio Urshela, who have all gone down since mid-June. On a related note, Los Angeles is 7–15 since June 20 and trails Houston by 4.5 games for the American League’s final wild-card spot. The Angels may not have been a playoff team even with their whole lineup healthy, and they certainly aren’t in their current form.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
