Dodgers vs Angels: LA Getting First Look at Red-Hot Shohei Ohtani This Week in Freeway Series
After being swept this past weekend by the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers head down the I-5 freeway for a quick two game series with the Angels. These two teams enter this series trending in opposite directions as the Dodgers have spiraled of late, while the Angels are on fire. The Dodgers went 2-4 over their six-game home stand last week while the Angels went 5-2 against the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals on the road.
The Dodgers dropped down to third place within the NL West while the Angels jumped up to second place in the AL West. Both teams would make the playoffs if the season ended right now so we are technically looking at a potential World Series preview here. The Freeway Series is always a fun one and means even more this season with the two teams competing for the postseason.
As this series starts, there is one intriguing part within this matchup. That is the impending free agency of star two-way player Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani has been rumored to leave the Angels after this season due to the team consistently not putting together winning seasons during his time there. So their recent winning has been a major boost to them and ut remains to be seen how far they can go and if it changes anything.
The Dodgers have been one of the heavy favorites to land Ohtani in free agency if he leaves the Angels so getting a view of each other this week could make things more interesting.
As for the actual games, left-hander Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to take the mound for the Dodgers while the Angels will be throwing out a lefty themselves in Reid Detmers. Kershaw has been solid for LA this season, holding an ERA of 2.95 for the year. He has been one of the few pitchers that the team has been able to rely on so it will be key for him to have a strong outing and help stop the bleeding for the Dodgers.
Detmers has an ERA of 4.48 on the season and has struggled mightily to produce similar results to his strong rookie season. We could see the Dodger bats come alive in this game if Detmers isn’t able to set in early.
As for the game Wednesday, it remains to be seen who will take the mound for the Dodgers but the Angels will be throwing out Ohtani. Ohtani has been on a roll lately at the plate, hitting a home run in four of his last five games. On the mound, he has been good as well, holding a 3.29 ERA over 82 innings pitched.
He went six innings and allowed just two runs in his last start against a strong Rangers offense. Ohtani will provide a tough challenge for the Dodgers on the mound but if they can get to him early, it could throw him off any sort of rhythm.
All in all, this should be a fun series between two good Southern California teams. With the way that the Angels are playing lately, it wouldn’t surprise me if the two teams split the series. The Dodgers need to start picking up wins quickly otherwise the season could really get away from them.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
