Baseball is a business run largely by analytics, and the numbers are undoubtedly stacked against the Angels. According to Fangraphs.com, the odds of Arte Moreno's team making the playoffs this year are about 1 in 6, 16.8%. The Angels are 3½ games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the running for the last wild-card spot, with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees also in their way.
And yet, the Angels are going all-in, and if you're inside the team's bubble, sources indicate, the context for their choices this week feels very different.