Angels Fan Rooting Guide: September 21-27

I want nothing more than to stop being invested in this stupid, mediocre Angel team. But I can’t quit them. They’re still only 2-1/2 games behind the Astros with a HUGE three-game series in Houston this week. That’s totally doable! And yet, just a couple weeks ago I had made peace the Angels wouldn’t make the playoffs. They don’t deserve to, and even if they do they’re likely to get smashed by superior teams anyway. But damn if October baseball isn’t addicting, even if our hopes are bound to be crushed at some point.

How about we just relax? If the playoffs happen, great, but if not, take solace in the fact that the Angels weren’t good enough to win anyway.

No, none of that made me feel better either.

The Skinny

AL West – Third place, 4-1/2 games behind Texas

Wild Card – Third place, 2-1/2 games behind Houston for the second spot

Playoff odds – Baseball Prospectus: 11.9% ; FanGraphs: 11.5%

Early Week Series

Indians at Twins

The Indians and Twins playing each other cuts down on the amount of series we have to pay attention to this week. Both teams are on the Angels’ heels, but realistically, if either of these teams catch the Angels that means Houston has run away with the wild card anyway. It’s too hot to get to worked up about this series.

Root: Chill

Rangers at A’s

Given the Angels close out the regular season with four games in Arlington, the possibility to catch the Rangers remains. The A’s (probably) dropped the series in Houston intentionally because they’re still sore about the Angels punking them in 2014, so don’t count on Oakland to do us a solid.