AL Wild Card Watch

[floplag]

On 8/1/2017 at 11:08 PM, Scotty@AW said:

If the Angels were to win the wild card this year, a few things would happen...

1. The collective baseball writers throughout America would be left speechless because the Angels are supposed to be terrible except for Trout and they're totally wasting his presence.

2. We'd be a freakin' dangerous playoff team if Richards, Heaney, Skaggs, Shoe and Meyer are healthy and pitching up to their ability. 

3. Many AW members would have to answer to a very angry and vengeful God for their worship of Eppler, a mere man.

4. It would probably cause a shift in how we approach the offseason. I think it would make rate and Eppler a little more aggressive in free agency.

5. I'd become too full of myself because I predicted they'd make the playoffs and I'm already insufferable enough.

To be honest, KC's and TB are solid teams. But SEA and Baltimore....we're better than both. Baltimore is well coached but Machado, Davis and Trumbo aren't healthy and contributing and their pitching staff is atrocious. You get around Schoop and Mancini, and you'll win. Seattle is your typical Dipoto team. Looks great in paper, sacrificed budget and farm to build this team. Then they underperform and miss the playoffs, which causes them to go out and spend more money, just to lose more.

TB and Bal have a ton of game left against each other, and more with NY/Bos, I believe they will cancel each other out in many ways.  Both cant maintain the standing if you look at their schedules.   TB has a much tougher schedule including the Cubs for example. 
We control our destiny versus Sea.  
To me KC is the tricky one in all this in that we need help, but they dont have it easy though either with 10 games v Cle, a series with Sea, a home and home with the Twins, Col and Ari.  
This is totally within reach in my opinion.  

Dont get me wrong I'm not suggesting we have the guns to go deep in the post aside from the usual anything can happen stuff, but at least getting there is realistic.  
 

[floplag]

1 hour ago, ANAHEIMBOB said:

The Phillies are a really bad team.  The Angels play Houston 9 more times and the Indians 3 more times. The Nationals twice.  Good luck  Angels.

You listed 14 out of 44 games, the other WC contenders have tougher roads in my opinion than we do and Hou literally has nothing to play for at this point. 

[SigBaby]

There's something you can't deny about this year's team: they don't give up. So many come from behind wins and it especially showed when Trout went down they continued to battle. They've played good teams well all season and I expect them to stay in the race with the help of some guys getting healthy.

[DMVol]

1 hour ago, ANAHEIMBOB said:

....The Angels play Houston 9 more times and the Indians 3 more times. The Nationals twice.  Good luck  Angels.

They don't let you play only bad teams......you have to play them all....

[floplag]

45 minutes ago, SigBaby said:

There's something you can't deny about this year's team: they don't give up. So many come from behind wins and it especially showed when Trout went down they continued to battle. They've played good teams well all season and I expect them to stay in the race with the help of some guys getting healthy.

Many will disagree, but id like to have seen the front office make an effort to, well see this month but this team really isn that far off of at least making the post.  
hovering around 500 doesnt help now or the future as we arent going to get the top draft picks.
At least if we make it weve got something to look at and see success and use to try to get some off season help to show were close. 
Getting guys healthy is huge, no question, and Cowart has so far filled a huge hole... i would like to see  them bring it home in a positive way somehow, even getting run in the WC game is better than not making it. 

[IEAngelsfan]

10 hours ago, CaliAngel said:

I will tattoo "I <3 Troll Daddy" on my butt if the Angels make the playoffs.

If you lose and get the tattoo, I'll simply take your word for it rather than having you post a pic.

[ettin]

22 minutes ago, IEAngelsfan said:

If you lose and get the tattoo, I'll simply take your word for it rather than having you post a pic.

No I think I want clear evidence, this is too important.

[Dick B Back]

Troll Daddy on one cheek and Lifetime on the other for the win.

[Docwaukee]

NYY +1

KCR 0

TBR -0.5

SEA -2.5

LAA -3.0

BAL -3.5

TEX -4.5

MIN -4.5

TOR -5.5

DET -6.0

[ten ocho recon scout]

10 hours ago, Dick B Back said:

Troll Daddy on one cheek and Lifetime on the other for the win.

I think "TR" on one cheek, with "LL" on the other would be better.

[maximus p]

It seems every year the Halos throw a 18-7, 14-5, or a 20-9 type winning streak.  They haven't done so this year.  Here's to hopping for a 11-3, 8-1, or a 12-5 run between now and the end of the season

[Inside Pitch]

18 hours ago, hangin n wangin said:

We should play the Phillies more often.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos  Or maybe we should just play good teams less often...   

[arch stanton]

On a related note we're back within 15.5 games of the division lead 

[OregonLAA]

It's funny because I'll look at the wild card standings for the next week or so and wish we could add a game from that awful Toronto game. I did the same thing when we choked that 3-0 lead against the Astros with two outs (last year?). Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt us 

[RallyMo]

On 8/2/2017 at 4:15 AM, Lou said:

But then we'd be right back behind Baltimore when we turn our come-from-behind win over Seattle when we were down by 6 runs going into the bottom of the 9th into a loss.

 

This.

Every single time someone thinks like that: this.

[DMVol]

25 minutes ago, OregonLAA said:

It's funny because I'll look at the wild card standings for the next week or so and wish we could add a game from that awful Toronto game. I did the same thing when we choked that 3-0 lead against the Astros with two outs (last year?). Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt us 

Over 162 games, everybody has a stinker or two but blowing a 6 run lead in the 9th is a killer.....

[Troll Daddy]

The players are into this race and believe they can make the playoffs. 

[eligrba]

21 hours ago, ANAHEIMBOB said:

The Phillies are a really bad team.  The Angels play Houston 9 more times and the Indians 3 more times. The Nationals twice.  Good luck  Angels.

Who do your Red Sox play?

[eligrba]

45 minutes ago, OregonLAA said:

It's funny because I'll look at the wild card standings for the next week or so and wish we could add a game from that awful Toronto game. I did the same thing when we choked that 3-0 lead against the Astros with two outs (last year?). Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt us 

If you turn the page, nothing can haunt you....M. Sciosca

[JustATroutFan]

In a do or die month of August, the Angels are playing for a do or die game, unless the Astros have a big and historic collapse. Don't like the Angels' chance of winning that WC game if they keep on letting Pujols and Valbuena hit ahead of Simmons. 

[Blarg]

9 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I think "TR" on one cheek, with "LL" on the other would be better.

[totdprods]

I'm not saying this because I think the Angels have a chance at the division, but it'll be real interesting to see how Houston fares the rest of the year. Their pen is a mess, their rotation is battered, Correa is out for awhile, and they still lean a lot on youth to lead them. I can't fathom them choking the division away, but they could certainly come back down to Earth over the next few weeks.

[Second Base]

If the Angels take 2/3 and 2/4 in the rest of their series to finish the year, they'll end up with 87 wins. Right now, I think 85 games will be enough for the WC2. It seems like a tough task ahead, but not when you consider they're getting Skaggs, Heaney, Richards and Shoemaker back all in the next month. 

[zenmaster]

25 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

If the Angels take 2/3 and 2/4 in the rest of their series to finish the year, they'll end up with 87 wins. Right now, I think 85 games will be enough for the WC2. It seems like a tough task ahead, but not when you consider they're getting Skaggs, Heaney, Richards and Shoemaker back all in the next month. 

Add back Maybin and Calhoun and keep Revere and Cowart hot and this team might just have a chance.

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, zenmaster said:

Add back Maybin and Calhoun and keep Revere and Cowart hot and this team might just have a chance.

How do you keep Revere hot with Maybin and Calhoun back?