(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Before taking the field on trade deadline day, the Los Angeles Angels were 56-51 and just acquired Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, and Dominic Leone.
Things were looking up and they had a chance at taking over the third and last Wild Card spot.
Fast forward a little over three weeks, and it’s all sadness and disappointment in LA.
The Angels are now 61-67, 10.5 games behind that last final spot and virtually hopeless.
They just got horrible injury news, too: Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch again this season after an UCL tear was found in his right (pitching) elbow.
But that’s not all.
Mike Trout will be returning to the injured list, per FOX Sports: MLB, as his surgically-repaired left hand is still not 100 percent.
Mike Trout is going back on the injured list, Angels GM Perry Minasian announced. pic.twitter.com/DKfhGCNom2
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 24, 2023
The three-time AL MVP sat out both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds with lingering discomfort.
Since he had rushed his return to give the Angels a hand as they hoped to make the playoffs, he is evidently not 100 percent healthy.
The team is sending him back to the IL to make sure he is.
Losing Ohtani the pitcher and Trout on the same night could prove to be a knockout blow for the Angels.
There is no word yet whether Ohtani will need Tommy John surgery, but if he does, he won’t pitch again until 2025.
There is a good chance he is not with the Angels then: he will be a free agent after this season.
He has already gotten the surgery, in 2018.
He will remain in the lineup for the time being, but if the Angels are completely out of it in a few weeks, there is significant shutdown potential with both Trout and Ohtani.
What a horrible year for the Angels.
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