Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
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Back on July 22, the Los Angeles Angels were leading the AL West with a record of 54-40. They were two games up on the Houston Astros, and according to MLB.com’s Postseason Probabilities chart, they had an 89 percent chance of winning the division. Since then, the Angels have gone 11-23 and are now 5.5 games out of the AL West with a 28 percent chance of winning the division. In addition, FanGraphs has their chances of making the Divisional Series at only 18.6 percent. So, what happened to the Angels in just a month’s time?
For starters, it’s apparent that this offense lives and dies with the bat of Mike Trout. Back on July 26, Trout injured his wrist and he hasn’t been the same at the plate ever since (he’s been hitting .216/.350/.361 since returning on July 30). Naturally, when the best player on your team is struggling then that won’t help matters, but that’s the time when your supporting cast needs to step up. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. Albert Pujols has gone into a major slump (hitting .220/.262/.360 in the same span), and the rest of the Angels’ offense has cratered, as well. The pitching has been solid, but if you can’t score, you can’t win.
As such, the Angels seem primed to add another season of disappointment to their belt. Granted, there’s still a month left in the season and this is baseball, so anything can happen. Maybe today, they’ll break out against Cleveland and that’ll be the start of a special run. That means that they need Trout and Pujols to return to form almost immediately. If that happens, then the Angels may have a shot at making it into the postseason. If those two continue to struggle, then they’ll be ruing their August woes come October.
- Meanwhile on the blue side of LA, legendary commentator Vin Scully announced that he’ll be returning in 2016 for his 67th season of calling Dodgers baseball. Again: That’ll be sixty-seven seasons. Absolutely amazing.
- Those wacky catwalks at Tropicana Field struck again on Friday night. This time, they fooled Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier into scaling the center field fence to potentially steal a homer, only for the ball to hit the catwalk. Oh, Tampa.
- Going into the ninth inning of last night’s game against the Yankees, the Braves were down by 12. Naturally, this was the perfect time to give Jonny Gomes his first-ever appearance as a pitcher.
- From the four-seamer to the cutter, who in baseball has gotten the most out of their pitches? CBS Sports tried to determine who had the best pitches of 2015 so far.
- The Giants kept pace with their hated rivals from LA thanks to a walk-off victory from the bat of Kelby Tomlinson.
- Seattle is now on the lookout for a new GM, as they gave Jack Zduriencik his walking papers on Friday.
- Toronto has sent catcher Josh Thole all the way down to the Rookie League, but it’s only so they can take advantage of recall rules. Hooray for loopholes!
- The Mets finally lost a game, and it was the Red Sox who beat them. Go figure.
- During that Mets/Red Sox game, Boston catcher Blake Swihart hit an inside-the-park home run that cleared the fence. Yes, you read that correctly.
- The defending American League Champions Royals are now 30 games over .500 and are absolutely cruising towards the AL Central title.
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