"Obviously we’ve gotta start picking it up" - Mike Trout takes the heat after LA Angels drop another series to divisional foe
Mike Trout's Los Angeles Angels might be the most perplexing team of all time. Despite boasting two of the best baseball players in history, the team seems perennially doomed to toil in obscurity.
In addition to Mike Trout's 3 MVP Awards, two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani adds to the team's cache. The first ever-player to strike out 100 or more batters while concurrently hitting at least 100 RBIs, Ohtani is just as much of a game-changer as Mike Trout is.
But despite all the star power, Angels fans have not seen the results. The team has not won a playoff game since 2009, and has failed to make the postseason all together since 2014. Last season, 2022, was meant to be the team's reawakening, but a franchise-worst 13-game losing skid ended those hopes relatively early.
This past weekend, the Angels were in the Lone Star State to take on the Houston Astros. Coming into the series, the Angels sat in fourth place in the AL West and were eager to knock some points off of their divisional rivals.
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After the Astros won the first game of the series, Shohei Ohtani dueled with Framber Valdez on the mound in the second meeting, with the former handing the Astros a win. Alex Bregman's 5th career Grand Slam handed the Astros a decisive win in the third game, and the Angels pulled off a victory in the fourth and final game.
After the 3-1 series loss to key divisional rivals in Houston, Mike Trout attempted to excuse his team's performance. Speaking to Angels writer Sam Blum, the 31-year-old wondered aloud why his team cannot seem to get it done against the Astros, stating:
“We’ve been in a lot of ballgames. We’ve had a lot of chances in a lot of ballgames. Just fell short. It’s a long season. Obviously we’ve gotta start picking it up.”
With a record of 31-30, the Los Angeles Angels now find themselves third in the AL West, 8.5 games behind the Texas Rangers. The team will hope to turn their fortunes around as they arrive in Chicago for a 3-day series against the Cubs.
Mike Trout is running out of explanations
While it is unquestionably true that the Angels play in one of the harder divisions, that can only be used as an excuse for so long. As Mike Trout himself said, the team needs to start picking up, lest the future of the entire franchise be called into question.