Los Angeles Angels contemplate 3-man rotation for ALDS
By Phil Watson
The Los Angeles Angels, storming toward finishing with baseball’s best record, are contemplating going with a three-man starting rotation for the American League Division Series.
The Angels clinched the AL West title earlier this week and there are scheduled off days between Games 2 and 3 and Games 4 and 5 of the first series Los Angeles would be involved in.
Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported the potential for the plan via Twitter:
Scioscia says #Angels might use 3 starters in ALDS even if Shoemaker is healthy. That would mean Weaver on short rest. Just an idea now.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) September 19, 2014
Manager Mike Scioscia will have the next week plus to get his starting rotation lined up for the opening series. Should the Angels finish with the best record in the AL, they would face the winner of the Wild Card Playoff in the ALDS.
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Jered Weaver is already set to go in Game 1 of the series, according to the Orange County Register.
Matt Shoemaker is dealing with a strained oblique, but is expected to be ready for the playoffs. The other Angels starters are C.J. Wilson and Hector Santiago.
Weaver would have to work on three days’ rest in Game 4 if the Angels go with a three-man rotation, something he has only done twice in his career—both times in 2011. He games up seven runs in six innings in one start and two runs in six innings in the other.
Weaver is 17-8 with a 3.50 ERA and 1.203 WHIP this season in 32 starts covering 200.1 innings.
The Angels’ best pitcher this season, right-hander Garrett Richards, is already done for the year with a knee injury.
Shoemaker is 16-4 with a 3.04 ERA and 1.074 WHIP in 27 appearances, 20 of them as a starter, and 136 innings. Wilson is 13-9 with a 4.42 ERA and 4.23 ERA in 29 starts and 169 innings and Santiago, along with Wilson a left-hander, is 5-9 with a 3.98 ERA and 1.375 WHIP in 28 appearances—23 starts—and 120 innings.
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