COVID-19 gives way for unlikely scenarios in the new season

By: Vicente Olivas Jr.

22 July 2020

Before I even start this article, I just want to state that I know this is a long shot. But let me explain why it’s not as unlikely as you might think. The Dodgers are a safe bet to make it to the World Series. Now don’t get me wrong, there could be another unexpected exit like last year but we just can’t realistically see that happening.

The Braves seem to be the ones that might be best suited to take them out but they definitely don’t have the depth the Dodgers have. And the Nationals have gotten weaker since Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon won’t be on their roster for next year. Zimmerman opted out of the season due to COVID concerns and Rendon signed with the Angels over the offseason.

Will the Angels Ruin the Party?

Speaking of the Angels, they are the half of this equation. Not to discredit the owner Arte Moreno, but this team has been lacking pitching for about a decade. My last idea of a true ace that the Angels had was in John Lackey who actually was with the Angels when they won it all back in 2002.

Ever since then, I can think of Jered Weaver, but then again, he’s not necessarily someone you’d want to put in a Game 7. I’m not sure why it’s been a clear mission from Arte to sign big name position players at the cost of decent pitching. The price of pitchers has gone higher and higher as teams continue to realize that good pitching correlates more to winning than good hitting.

Angels Missing Out on Pitching

The Angels have made some truly bad deals over the past decade, the worst being possibly Josh Hamilton. But they seem to continuously go for hitting over pitching. And the latest example of this was this past off-season. They signed Anthony Rendon instead of chasing Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, Dallas Keuchel, and Zach Wheeler to name a few.

Anthony Rendon Gives Angels New Hope

Granted, Anthony Rendon is a great player that had the highest WAR over the past three years than any other free agent but the Angels lineup is fine, it’s their pitching that loses games. Last year their ERA ranked 12th among the 15 American League teams. Yet they ranked 7th in runs scored.

However, who cares if the Angels haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2014, this shortened season allows for anything to happen. The Angels lineup is going to be even more stacked than the last few years. They are going to have Trout, Ohtani, Fletcher, Simmons, Goodwin, Upton, La Stella, Rendon ready to go.

The Ventric is predicting that they will finish the shortened season ranked 5th in runs scored in the American League. So their hitting is fine but how is the pitching looking this year?

Can Ohtani Lift the Angels Pitching Above Mediocrity?

It’s actually looking okay. If Ohtani and Canning can stay healthy then they have a serious shot to beat out the Athletics for the second Wild Card spot. The rest of their pitching arsenal is rather mediocre at best but the Angels will be relying on their bats to bail them out.

So if that were to happen and they make the playoffs, well we’ve seen that anything can happen in the playoffs. They would have to go through the Twins in a Wild Card game and then the Astros in the Divisional Series and then the New York Yankees in the Championship Series. 8 wins would be separating them from a date with the Dodgers in the World Series.

It would be the first time in the history of the MLB that this would happen. Not saying that it is likely. But this is definitely the greatest chance we have seen over the last few years for this to happen. Well we can dream can’t we?