Josh Hamilton Traded to Texas

Hamilton will never wear Angel red again. Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

  
Hamilton's day's with the Angels are officially over.


By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)

Day 1 Recap of LDS Play in MLB Playoffs

Moustakas was the hero for KC in Anaheim. Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski

The first full day of LDS play was here and once again the Royals stole the show with their heroics they pulled off in the 11th inning out in Anaheim. Meanwhile, the Orioles took care of business at home.

By: Michael Hanley

Angels Wrap Up AL West Crown

Trout big part of  LA's success. Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo/USA Today Sports

The journey back to the top of the AL West for the Angels was completed on Wednesday night as they beat the Mariners and got Texas to defeat Oakland to clinch the AL West title for the first time since 2009.

By: Michael Hanley

UPDATED: Angels' Ace Garrett Richards Suffers Severe Knee Injury

Richards was having a career year. Photo credit: Rich Gagnon/Getty Images

 

 

 

Though the Los Angeles Angels continued their winning ways on Wednesday night against the Red Sox, they suffered a loss in their starting rotation that will potentially make their road to a deep postseason run & a possible World Series title much more difficult to navigate and get to.

By: Michael Hanley

Angel's Scioscia Speaks Out On Josh Hamilton's Struggles

 

 

Hamilton still looking for power. Photo Credit: Bob Levey/Getty Images



The Angels have continued to surge their way back to a tie atop the AL West with the Athletics but for all the success they have had so far this season, Los Angeles is still waiting on the power to come back into Josh Hamilton’s bat & start hitting like the slugger he use to be with the Texas Rangers. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia recently made his feelings known on Josh Hamilton & his lack of power to the press.

 

 By: Michael Hanley

World Series Contender Profile: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Trout leading Angels to a big season. Photo Credit: Alex Gallardo/AP

The Angels have been one of baseball’s best teams in recent months thanks to  a number of factors that have been working in their favor. Lets take an inside look at this red hot team from the left coast and see what makes this club so consistent and high performing.

 

By: Michael Hanley

The Winners & Losers of The MLB Trade Deadline



Will Price lead Detroit deep into the postseason? Photo Credit:USA Today

 

The trading deadline came and went, it did not disappoint in the sheer volume of trades that were made. Not all trades though made teams winners on this annual big event in baseball. We had our fair share of winners and losers after this trading frenzy. Just who were winners and losers? Find out below.

 

By: Michael Hanley

Yoenis Cespedes: The Outfielder With A Cannon Arm

Cespedes making plays with his arm. Photo credit: Kelley L.Cox, US Presswire

Yoenis Cespedes is known for his all around great game, but his arm has been the star of the show the past two nights in major league baseball. We see all sorts of throws in baseball, ranging from laughable and way off the target to ones that make you stop and just say “How did he make that throw” Cespedes had not one but two of those type of highlight throws in the just completes series the Athletics had vs. the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

 

By: Michael Hanley

MLB: Albert Pujols, The Resurgence of a Slugger

When Albert Pujols cranked out his 500th home run of his career, it was rightfully celebrated and honored by many throughout the major leagues,including media and the fans. It is another crowning achievement in what is a first ballot hall of fame career for Pujols. 

by Michael Hanley

MLB: AL West At The All-Star Break

by Chad Jones

A summary of the first half of the MLB season for the AL West teams. Does your team have a chance?

MLB: The Biggest Surprises Of The 2013 Season So Far

Are the Yankees the biggest surprise of 2013? Photo credit MLB

The Success of the Yankees and the Red Sox

Before the 2013 season began many experts predicted a tough season ahead for the New York Yankees. Who could blame them? A series of injuries left a depleted Yankees squad without stars, but as the first stage of the season has proved, lack of stars doesn't necessarily equal lack of quality. For the batters consistency has been the key to their success. Other than possibly Robinson Cano, nobody has really stood out with the bat, but at the same time they don't have a starter who is struggling, its a strange situation that seems to be working with a strong rotation to keep the opponent's run totals low. Hiroki Kuroda has had an incredible start, in 9 starts the 38 year old has a 1.99 ERA and a 6-2 record. C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettite are performing to a high level as usual, and outside of his last 2 starts

AL and NL MVP Races Heat Up

By Ryan Henry

     It’s getting close to the end of the season, which means that it is time to look at those in the running for MVP honors. In both the AL and NL there are two that distill to the top and a few that are fighting to stay in the conversation.  First, let’s take a look at the AL race.

American League

1.       The first person you have to talk about when considering the AL MVP is the Angels’ Mike Trout. He currently leads the league in four statistical categories: batting average at .346, stolen bases (33), runs (86) and OPS+ (182). On top of that, he is sitting at an absurd 6.7 wins-above-replacement  (WAR) according to Fangraphs.com. He is playing for a contender, and could very well be the third player to win both rookie of the year honors to go alongside his MVP trophy, which would also go nicely alongside his likely Gold Glove.

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Angels

2.       Next up is Robinson Cano. He was a finalist for this award last year, and would have won it had Josh Hamilton not had the monster year he did. Unfortunately for Cano, it looks like he will fall victim a second time to somebody having a career year, and the distinct anti-Yankee culture that pervades MVP voters. Cano is sitting at 5.1 WAR, currently second behind the aforementioned Mike Trout. Additionally he is hitting .313 (tops among second basemen), 24 home runs (also tops among second basemen) and 64 RBIs (second among second basemen). Cano also has the advantage that his team will probably be playing in the postseason, while it remains to be determined if the Halos will even be there.

3.       If Trout doesn’t make the playoffs and the voters really hate the Yankees as much as it seems, then Miguel Cabrera could find himself hoisting MVP honors. He has been on an absolute tear this year batting .325 with 27 HRs and 91 RBIs. He currently site second in the AL in batting average, first in RBIs and third in slugging percentage. He is also third in AL in WAR at 4.8. Despite all this, voters may be turned off by the fact that he may not even be the MVP of his own team, as Austin Jackson is having a similarly ridiculous statistical season.

photo courtesy of the Detroit Tigers

National League

1.       Ryan Braun is an absolute beast. He leads the NL in HRs with 29 and is tied for third in RBIs with 74. He is putting these numbers up while playing for a Brewers team that has very little going for them. However, the reigning NL MVP was the subject of some controversy regarding performance enhancing drugs in the offseason. These allegations coupled with the fact that Braun isn’t on a contending team (the Brewers are 8 games under .500) could be the perfect storm to ensure that he doesn’t repeat.

2.       The biggest threat to Braun (other than the PED allegations) is Andrew McCutchen. He is hitting an out of this world .373 for the season, a full 25 percentage points ahead of rookie phenom Trout. McCutchen gets on base 43.1% of the time, trailing only the injured Joey Votto in that category and leads the majors in slugging percentage at .628. To top it all off, he leads the NL in WAR at 6.1. He has made the Pirates a contender. The only reason I rank Braun above McCutchen is because he has had some help in the form of Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and the recently acquired Travis Snider. This looks like the year that the Pirates end their playoff drought, and McCutchen should benefit from it.

photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates

3.       Melky Cabrera hits singles. He hits a lot of singles. He is hitting .348 but only has 10 HRs. His OPS is a ridiculous .998, while his wOBA (weighted on-base average) sites 8^th in the National League at .396. He is an offensive equivalent of a Rolex watch. You can count on him getting to first base two to three times a game. The problem is that he may not even be the best offensive player on his team. If McCutchen gets points taken off because he has help, then Cabrera is in trouble. Buster Posey is also having a career year, and is one of the reasons that opponents can’t pitch around Cabrera. And, while Cabrera is doing exceptionally well getting on-base, he doesn’t do as good of a job as either of the other two in this list.

     If the voting ended tomorrow, I would give it to Trout and McCutchen. Trout is having a one-of-a-kind type season and the allegations of Ryan Braun are too severe to justify giving him an MVP, especially since baseball likes to shy away from controversy. Any of these six candidates are deserving of the award, and the last quarter of this baseball season promises to be an exciting one either way.