Los Angeles Angels: Orioles series shows the Halos aren’t playoff-caliber

After sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road, the Los Angeles Angels have dropped three games in a row to the Baltimore Orioles.

Fans of the Los Angeles Angels are probably used to this rollercoaster type of a season but after winning four games in a row and sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team has now lost three games in a row to the Baltimore Orioles.

This series against the Orioles looked like it was going to serve as a springboard for the Angels. It was not unreasonable to think that the Angels could sweep the Orioles and at the very least could win three of the four games.

Winning three of the four would have given the Angels a 57-50 record heading into another should-be easy home series against the Detroit Tigers.

That also is a winnable series and if the Angels won two of the three at home would have had a 59-51 record heading out of the homestand. The team still would have likely been out of the playoff picture, but they would have been right on the fringe.

But instead, after the highest point of the season which gave fans hope for a wild card run, the Los Angeles Angels have dropped three in a row to the Baltimore Orioles.

While the Orioles are still a big-league team, they also are the second-worst team in the American League. To put this into perspective, this is the first time since last August that the Orioles have won three games in a row.

A four-game winning streak would be the first since last April.

The Angels were stretched out in the 16-inning game, which is a valid argument. However, the team was easily handled the following night and then could not contain the Orioles’ bats when it mattered on Saturday.

The team has no problem scoring runs. Where the biggest problems lie, and it is no secret, is with the pitching staff. As they said on the Angels’ post-game show from Saturday night: you can’t beat big-league clubs with AAA pitching.

No matter how good the offense is and how many promising nights or series there might be, the fact still remains that the Angels are throwing subpar pitching on the mound. Good outings happen but sustaining that success over an extended period of time is extremely difficult when the stuff just isn’t there.

That is why the Angels have been the streaky team that will win several games and lose several games in a row; the team that has hovered right around .500 and just close enough to give its fans hope throughout the year.

And even if the Los Angeles Angels shock the world and go on a hot run to end the year and somehow sneak in, they do not have the staff to come close to these American League juggernauts and would just get bounced out of the playoffs right away.

It would take several guys, not just one, having breakout years to end the season to even get to that point. So as good as Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and the rest of the Halos’ offense is, the pitching is the ultimate equalizer and the biggest thing holding the team back.

This series against the Baltimore Orioles is the perfect example of that, especially considering it is coming right after a great series sweep over the Dodgers.