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MLB power rankings: The Angels kept (and helped) Shohei Ohtani, then promptly fell apart
发布日期:2024-12-19 07:06:34
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When fans look back on Shohei Ohtani's tenure in Anaheim, it will include a bottomless trove of eye-popping performances, from tape-measure home runs to double-digit strikeout games to historic double-duty, doubleheader performances.

It's just going to be a highlight-free reel.

The Los Angeles Angels did right by their fans and Ohtani, retaining him at the deadline and making some of the boldest moves on the market, bolstering hopes they'd snag a wild card spot and lift the greatest two-way player in baseball history into his first postseason.

And then they lost seven of their next nine games.

A maddening and ill-timed cold spell will almost certainly knock the Angels from playoff contention, despite importing pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez and sluggers Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron before the trade deadline. The playoff-crushing blow might have been administered this weekend, when the Seattle Mariners came into Angel Stadium and swept four games, dusting the Angels in the wild card standings and sending them below .500.

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As if to epitomize this maddeningly frustrating era where both Ohtani and Mike Trout haven't been to the playoffs together, the Mariners won two games in their final at-bat and two games by one run, the weekend commencing when a fellow named Cade Marlowe hit a grand slam – just his second career homer – off All-Star closer Carlos Estevez to turn a 3-1 Angels lead into a 5-3 loss.

The Angels were punished appropriately in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings, dropping four spots to No. 20, while the Mariners vaulted six places into 11th.

A look at this week's rankings:

1. Atlanta Braves (-)

2. Baltimore Orioles (-)

3. Texas Rangers (+1)

4. Tampa Bay Rays (-1)

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (-)

6. Houston Astros (-)

7. Toronto Blue Jays (-)

8. Philadelphia Phillies (+4)

9. San Francisco Giants (+1)

10. Milwaukee Brewers (-1)

11. Seattle Mariners (+6)

12. Cincinnati Reds (-4)

13. New York Yankees (-)

14. Chicago Cubs (+6)

15. Boston Red Sox (-4)

16. Miami Marlins (-2)

17. Arizona Diamondbacks (-2)

18. San Diego Padres (-)

19. Minnesota Twins (-)

20. Los Angeles Angels (-4)

21. Cleveland Guardians (-1)

22. New York Mets (-)

23. Detroit Tigers (-)

24. Pittsburgh Pirates (+1)

25. Washington Nationals (+1)

26. St. Louis Cardinals (-2)

27. Chicago White Sox (-)

28. Colorado Rockies (-)

29. Kansas City Royals (-)

30. Oakland Athletics (-)

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