Angels News: Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon and the Reasons to Watch the Final Series
The Angels 2022 season is mercifully coming to an end. They have just one series remaining, a trip to Oakland to play the lowly Athletics.
The Angels are entering the series red-hot in the midst of a season-high seven game winning streak.
The sudden surge has coincided with some late-season hot streaks and recent call-ups of a few key players.
If you're looking for a reason to tune into the final three games of the season, you're in the right place.
1. Shohei Ohtani and History
Shohei Ohtani has had an incredibly historic 2022 season, that may end up going down as the greatest ever.
But he's not done yet.
Entering the final series, Ohtani needs to pitch just one inning to become the first player in MLB history to qualify among the league leaders as a pitcher and hitter.
Ohtani also enters the series on a career-high 17 game hit streak, yet also a 19-game home run drought.
Ohtani is still one home run away from 35. If he ends the drought during their final three games, he will join Mike Trout, who has 39, as the third pair of teammates in Angels history to hit 35 or more home runs in a season.
2. The Instant-Impact Rookies
There's no better place for a young ballplayer to be than a struggling team.
As the Angels found their season going in the wrong direction, they decided to open up the floor for a few young guys to audition for next year.
And those guys took full advantage of the opportunity.
Livan Soto has looked like a hidden gem since he came up in the middle of September.
Soto is hitting a scorching .413/.429/.630, and has eight multi-hit games out of his 14 starts this season. And his defense isn't too bad, either.
Soto has almost certainly locked up his spot on next year's Opening Day roster.
Logan O'Hoppe, the Angels' No. 1 overall prospect, is another guy who's gotten a shot at the end of the season.
He has a hit in all three games he's played, and has been behind the plate for three wins with a combined five runs allowed. He has a great opportunity to be the starting catcher in 2023.
3. Anthony Rendon's Return
Anthony Rendon made a surprise return to the active roster with eight games to go in the season. It turned out to be a sneaky move by the Angels, as he's now completed his five-game suspension for his role in the team's brawl with the Mariners in June.
With the suspension behind him, Rendon can now get into the lineup for the team's remaining three games, as he tries to get a little momentum going into the offseason.
Rendon has another four years and $152 million remaining on his contract, so unless the Angels can somehow find a trading partner for the 32-year-old coming off a major injury, there's a good chance he's the team's starting third baseman on Opening Day next season.
A Few More Quick Notes:
- Mike Trout is one home run away from completing his third season with 40 or more home runs. His career-high was 45 in 2019. He played 134 games in 2019 and he's at 116 this season.
- The Angels haven't had a winning streak longer than seven games since they won 10 in a row in 2014 on their way to the postseason. They could tie that winning streak with a sweep of the Athletics this week.
- Taylor Ward is red-hot since the beginning of September. He's hitting .370 with six home runs, 17 RBIs and has reached base safely in 25 of 28 games. Entering September, his batting average was .261. It's now .284.
- Patrick Sandoval will take the mound for one final time this season. He enters Monday's start with a 6-9 record, a 3.03 ERA and 145 strikeouts. His previous career-best was a 3.62 ERA and 94 strikeouts last season.
