The Angels Are Among the Worst Teams in Baseball Since the Trade Deadline

The Angels must play better to go into the postseason.

Since the trade deadline, the Angels have lost 6 consecutive games and any of the momentum they felt they had built up after adding much needed talent to the roster. Acquiring new players should improve a team’s play, but it hasn’t for the Halos.

The Angels must play better, or they can forget their first playoff berth since 2014.

Teams sure have a funny way of showing they actually want to win a wild-card berth since the trade deadline:#Dbacks lose 6 in a row.#Reds lose 6 in a row.#Angels lose 6 in a row.#Marlins lose 4 in a row.#Redsox lose 4 in a row#SFGiants lose 2 in a row to Oakland.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 6, 2023

Fans of the Angels might have a feeling of their team looking lifeless. Manager Phil Nevin needs to infuse some enthusiasm into his team. Much more than his downtrodden messages of hope delivered to reporters in recent days.

Yes, the Angels have suffered through a myriad of injuries including losing their Hall of Fame center fielder and high-dollar third baseman who won't even talk to media these days. But, even as a healthy team, the Angels weren’t considered one of the elite major league teams. 

While they could have proven the pundits wrong, they haven’t.

Their superstar Shohei Ohtani is exhausted from playing every day and pitching every fifth day, but he doesn’t want to let his team down by taking off a day to rest.

When the front office decided to be buyers instead of sellers, it put pressure on the team to perform. This roster didn’t need more of that.

While the Angels are a decent offensive team, they don’t have good pitching. Before the deadline, the club acquired Lucas Giolito, a decent starter, from the White Sox, but they didn’t do anything else to bolster their rotation.

The Angels’ chances of making the playoffs are growing slimmer with every loss. They need to remember baseball is a game and play with some excitement.