ANAHEIM, Calif.—As another lost season comes to a close, the Los Angeles Angels hit the road for a chance to spoil a playoff opportunity for their division rival Seattle Mariners in a three-game series starting Monday. The Mariners currently sit in the third American League Wild Card spot—half a game up on their fellow A.L. West foes the Texas Rangers.
The big news coming from Angels manager Phil Nevin is that Monday’s series opener could be the return of A.L. MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani has been out of action this past week due to an oblique injury that occurred during pre-game batting practice on Sep. 4 against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Halos are coming off a home series win against the Cleveland Guardians, but they’ll be facing a hungry Mariners team who are looking to bounce back themselves. Seattle comes off a 10 game road trip in which they went 3-7 and want to rebound at home in front of their fans, who are hoping for a second consecutive playoff appearance.
The Mariners currently hold the season advantage against the Angels with a 6-4 record across their matchups this year. The Angels were swept the last time these two teams faced each other in the beginning of August in Anaheim. That sweep was one of the main reasons for the Angels downfall after the trade deadline, where they went on a seven game losing streak and destroyed their playoff hopes.
One key part of the Mariners’ success this season has been their starting pitching. They feature one of the best trios in the league at the top with Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert.
The Angels will face Gilbert in game one while Castillo will start in Wednesday’s finale, but they had success against both pitchers last time out until their bullpen faltered and blew both games. Both pitchers faced the Angels in their last series, with Castillo allowing seven runs in six innings and Gilbert coughing up seven more (six earned) in just three innings.
The Angels are getting back shortstop Zach Neto off of the injured list, which will be a huge boost to the lineup and infield. Neto has quickly become a key glue player for the Angels in his rookie season. With Neto back, the Angels are looking for their younger players to develop during this last month of the season, such as catcher Logan O’Hoppe, reliever Ben Joyce, starting pitcher Reid Detmers, outfielder Mickey Moniak and first baseman Nolan Schanuel.
On the Mariners side, Julio Rodriguez can’t be contained. The sophomore center fielder recently won A.L. player of the month, slashing a ridiculous .429/.474/.724 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in 23 games. This streak came at the perfect time, and has helped the Mariners surge into a playoff spot.
Remember, these two teams had similar records at the trade deadline, but they’ve now gone their separate ways. The Angels have the opportunity to play spoiler as the skidding Rangers are waiting to pounce if the Mariners falter.
The series kicks off Monday night in Seattle at 6:40 p.m.