Don’t go reaching for the TV Guide or unloading your remaining Los Angeles Angels tickets to the closest person willing to take them just yet. The final month of the Angels’ season has plenty of opportunity to provide must-see TV, with interesting scenarios, mini drama and difficult decision-making.
You just have to know what is what. Think of it as the final act: the beginning of the end, the end of the end, and the beginning of the new beginning.
It’s all there, wrapped up in one, final month.
Sure, from now until the beginning of October, there will be mostly an abundance of second-guesses and couch coaching/managing towards the Angels; with the payroll, the top-tier talent and the heavily covered hype form the offseason, not making the playoffs—not making the World Series—will sometimes cause that to happen.
But all is not lost, unlike the Anaheim part of the Angels name, apparently. But I will leave that to owner Arte Moreno to decide. There are more important matters to dissect.
Because the team is so far out of the MLB playoff race, they are in a unique—and unwanted—position: They can begin the rebuild for 2014 while 2013 is still two months from completion.
Lucky them.
While most of the position battles will be left to the days of spring training to finalize, all of the current players are being looked at again and again, with the understanding that change is near. (Yep, even Mike Trout, though his scenario weighs more in 2015 and 2106.)
And if playing spoiler is not enough to sway watching your habits during this seemingly never-ending season, well, then here are six things to look for in September.
The final act…
Note: All stats and schedule info was provided courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.