Crunch Time: Mariners vs. Angels Series Preview
With the trade deadline looming, the Mariners play host to the Angels this week.
The Mariners’ start to the second half of the season was just as disappointing as their skid to end the first half. Two flat offensive performances and a bullpen meltdown exposed exactly the problems Seattle will need to fix in the week ahead of the trade deadline. Despite that hiccup last weekend, the M’s are still in a position to be aggressive and a little risky to improve their roster. They’re tied atop the AL West and have six games this week against two of the worst teams in the league.
The weekend before the All-Star break, the Mariners outscored the Angels by eight runs across four games and wound up losing three of those games. Now these two teams meet a week later for another series, this time in Seattle. Everything that was said about Los Angeles in the last series preview applies this time around: “the Angels are very bad on the field in all the ways that matter in the standings, and very bad off the field organizationally in all the ways that influence the product on the field.”
From the previous series preview:
Mike Trout is technically still here, albeit now with a torn meniscus (he’s about to start a rehab assignment, but thankfully, won’t return in time for this series). When you consider the typical starting lineup, the vast majority of the players were drafted and signed by the Angels, and doesn’t that tell you everything you needed and more? Logan O’Hoppe has been their best player, followed by Luis Rengifo, who cultivates annoyance simply while I type his name out, Taylor Ward, Kevin “You Think I’m Washed? Think Again” Pillar and Zach Neto.
Probable Pitchers
From a previous series preview:
After a career-year in 2022 with the Dodgers, Tyler Anderson signed a three-year deal with the Angels the following offseason. He wasn’t able to replicate his success in his first season in Anaheim and his second season has been a mixed bag, too. From a results standpoint, he’s running one of the best ERAs in the American League and that earned him an All-Star nod this year. Unfortunately, all of his peripherals indicate he’s enjoying some pretty significant good luck on his results and that a swing back towards his 4.53 FIP is imminent. The big driver behind his sudden success two years ago was an improved changeup; that pitch is still just as effective, but the rest of his repertoire has deteriorated a bit.
The Mariners scored four runs in six innings off Anderson on July 12. He allowed six hits and no walks while striking out four.
From a previous series preview:
José Soriano was one of the Angels more effective relievers last year but he’s made the transition back to the starting rotation this season. Surprisingly, his ERA, FIP, and xFIP are almost exactly the same as what he posted out of the ‘pen last year. The contours of his success are a little different; his strikeout and walk rates are a little lower and his ground ball rate has shot up to 61.7%, the second highest mark in baseball. He features a good, hard sinker and a sharp curveball as his two primary pitches. He’ll also mix in a four-seamer, a splitter, and a slider to round out his repertoire and each of those pitches possesses above average velocity.
Soriano allowed a single run in six innings in his start on July 13, allowing nine baserunners and striking out five.
From a previous series preview:
After a serious back injury cost him the entire 2022 season, Griffin Canning returned to the majors last year and looked like he was on the cusp of a big breakout this year. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. He’s lost velocity on all of his pitches this season and that’s had some pretty detrimental effects on his results. His strikeout rate has fallen by nearly ten points causing his ERA, FIP, and xFIP to shoot up over five. He’s been a bit more effective in May as his velocity has rebounded a tiny bit, but his secondary offerings still aren’t generating as many swings and misses as they were last year.
Canning put together one of his best starts of the season in his last outing against the Mariners in early June; he allowed a single run in 6.2 innings but was still saddled with the loss thanks to the shutout effort of Luis Castillo and the rest of the M’s pitching staff.
The Big Picture:
With a share of first place for the first time this season, the Astros travel to Oakland to face the cellar-dwelling A’s this week. The Rangers lost their series to the Orioles over the weekend and start a four-game set against the White Sox this afternoon. Now that Mariners are sharing the division lead, some more attention should be paid to the other AL clubs in the middle of the Wild Card race. The Royals swept the Southsiders over the weekend and will host the Diamondbacks this week while the Red Sox were swept by the Dodgers and will head to Colorado.