Angels Schedule Preview: Top Things to Know for Dodgers Series

Tuesday the Freeway Series between the Dodgers and the Angels begins in 2023. Both teams are mediocre, but the Angels are in second place in the American League Western Division 4.5 games behind the surprising Texas Rangers. The Dodgers are in An uncustomary position. They are in third place in the National League Western Division looking up at the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants who just swept them in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.

Both teams have injuries, and these are affecting their performance. Monday, the Angels put Anthony Rendon with a wrist contusion on the 10-day IL. The Dodgers’ starting rotation has been decimated by injuries to Julio Urías, Noah Syndergaard, and Ryan Pepoit who hasn’t thrown a pitch during the 2023 regular season.

Unlike 1958 when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have awful pitching, particularly their bullpen. Their pitching woes have caused many heartbreaking losses. Their ERA is twenty-fifth best in the Major Leagues. The Angels have the sixteenth-best ERA in the Majors.

Both the Angels and the Dodgers have star-studded lineups. Shohei Ohtani leads the Major Leagues with twenty-four home runs. Freddie Freeman’s .324 batting average is the third highest in the Major Leagues. Max Muncy, who is currently on the IL with a hamstring injury, leads the Dodgers with 18 home runs. Mookie Betts, Will Smith, and JD Martinez are having great offensive seasons. Both James Outman and Miguel Vargas, rookies, are struggling offensively. The Dodgers desperately miss their projected shortstop Gavin Lux who tore his ACL in the fourth game of 2023 spring training.

If the Angels want to use the stolen base as an offensive weapon, they should run on the Dodger pitching staff who can’t hold on a runner to save its life.

The two-game series should be thrilling even though both the Dodgers and the Angels are mediocre teams.