Shohei Ohtani to Start as Angels Rotation Set for Second Half of Season

The Greatest Sho on Earth will continue July 14.

The first half of the 2023 Major League Baseball season came to a bitter end for the Angels, with the Halos losing their fifth straight game, the ninth out of their last ten.

The injury bug has bitten the Angels big time, with Mike Trout out for at least a month, Anthony Rendon nursing a leg injury and even Shohei Ohtani having an issue with a nagging blister.

Luckily for the Angels, they have a perennial All-Star, generational talent on their roster, at least for now.

Ohtani has been, in a word, ridiculous in the first half of the MLB season. He remains a heavy favorite to win the AL MVP because of his unprecedented dual threat abilities.

Hell, some are calling the 29-year-old the greatest player of all time.

It comes as no surprise that Angels manager Phil Nevin announced that Ohtani is scheduled to start the first game after the All-Star break, according to The Orange County Register.

Even though his ERA has ballooned a bit after his most recent start against the Padres — in which he allowed 5 earned runs in as many innings — Ohtani sports a 3.32 season ERA and averages 1.32 strikeouts per inning.

Speculation swirls around whose Ohtani will don by the start of the 2024 season, and some even believe he might be traded by the Aug. 1 deadline if the Angels continue to head in the wrong direction.

However, sitting five games back in the AL Wild Card and seven in the AL West, the Angels are a hot streak away from playoff contention, and some expect the Halos to bolster their roster for the second half of the season.

With Ohtani on the mound and at the plate, the Angels are capable of going on a run opposite of the poor stretch they found themselves on to end the first half of the season.

Ohtani will kick things off for the Angels after the All-Star break when he starts Friday, Jul. 14 against the Houston Astros.