Texas Rangers May Influence Shohei Ohtani Future With Angels

The Los Angeles Angels and Shohei Ohtani will pay a visit to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field next week for a four-game series.

That series goes could have some influence on Ohtani’s future at the trade deadline.

The Athletic cited a quote from Angels owner Arte Moreno earlier this season there there was no interested in trading Ohtani at the deadline. Ohtani is a free agent and would be the most sought-after player on the market should he reach free agency and Texas has been mentioned as a dark-horse landing spot.

But Moreno’s quote came with a caveat.

“We will not trade Ohtani while we are contending for a playoff spot,” Moreno said.

The Angels enter Tuesday’s game with the Chicago Cubs one game over .500 and nearly 10 games behind the AL West-leading Rangers. The Angels are within striking distance of the last Wild Card spot.

In other words, here in early June, the Halos don’t appear to out of the playoff race. But they have work to improve their position.

What if the Rangers win, say, three out of four against the Angels next week? After all, the Angels just dropped three out of four games at the Houston Astros before being off Monday.

The month of June may determine where the Angels go with Ohtani, and it’s a favorable path. After the Cubs, the Angels host a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners before heading to Arlington. After the Rangers, it’s three games at Kansas City Royals, followed by a two-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers at home. The month ends with three road games at the Colorado Rockies and four home games with the Chicago White Sox.

With the exception of the Dodgers and the Rangers, the Angels face a group of under-.500 teams. That is an opportunity to better their playoffs positioning and add pieces instead considering the unthinkable — trading Ohtani at the deadline.

How might this impact the Rangers? Well, the Rangers would likely not be players in a derby to trade for Ohtani. But pushing Ohtani out of the division, even for just the last couple of months, might make the Rangers’ path to winning the AL West just a little bit easier.

After all, the Rangers and the Angels have two more series after the trade deadline. We’ll see if Ohtani is with the Angels come Aug. 14 in Arlington.

More From SI’s Inside The Rangers:

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.