ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani will help make up the American League's All-Star Game starting lineup 30 miles from here at Dodger Stadium on July 19. They entered Tuesday within the top 10 in the majors in FanGraphs wins above replacement, trending toward potential MVP consideration.
And yet the team they play for, the Los Angeles Angels, is once again pacing toward irrelevance, sitting 12 games below .500 and eight games back of the sixth and final playoff spot, with a hellish five-game stretch coming against the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers.