Fansided

Someone save Mike Trout from the Angels

By Joshua Sadlock

OAKLAND, CA - JUNE 16: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim looks on from the dugout against the Oakland Athletics in the top of the first inning at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on June 16, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - JUNE 16: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim looks on from the dugout against the Oakland Athletics in the top of the first inning at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on June 16, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Mike Trout is currently on one of the hottest stretches in MLB history, but the Los Angeles Angels continue to lose ground in the standings.

Way back in 2007, 22-year-old LeBron James took a Cleveland Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals with such luminary names as Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Eric Snow in his supporting cast. Future Hall of Famers, they were not. But, in the NBA (at least the NBA of a decade ago), all it takes is one big star for a deep playoff run.

If only it were that way in baseball.

Over the past 10 games, Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout has been on a truly historic run. He has gone to the plate 47 times and has made only 15 outs while compiling a ridiculous .533/.674/.967 line with four home runs and nine RBI. Over this stretch, his team has gone 3-7 and has fallen 9.5 games out of first place in the AL West.

It hasn’t mattered much for Trout and the Angels that he is on track to post quite possibly the greatest season in MLB history. He is hitting .332/.471/.683 with 23 home runs and 48 RBI. He has walked 67 times and struck out only 61. Nearly half of his hits have gone for extra bases. To top it off, he has also stolen 13 bases while continuing to play stellar defense.

A weak supporting cast continues to leave Trout’s efforts for naught. Even an aggressive offseason that saw them add Ian Kinsler and Zack Cozart and re-sign Justin Upton has not been enough to lift the Angels back into serious contention for the first time since 2014. Trout has played in a grand total of three playoff games in his career.

In basketball, a player like James can make up for the shortcomings of J.R. Smith and Kevin Love. In the NFL, Tom Brady has turned unheralded wide receiver after unheralded wide receiver into 100-catch machines. It just doesn’t work that way in baseball, and that is one of the primary reasons the sport has a difficult time marketing its best players.

Trout, like James, could reasonably win the MVP every single season. He is the league’s active leader in OPS+ and leads Mookie Betts, who is hitting .344/.426/.697, by a whopping 24 points so far this year. Trout is nearly two wins better than second-placer Jose Ramirez in WAR. In a sport where even the best players can hit .200 for an entire month, Trout has not gone consecutive games without reaching base at least once in years.

And yet, the Angels are a longshot to make the playoffs.

This is part of what makes baseball the sport that it is. Down a run in the ninth inning of a World Series game, a team like the Angels could be stuck with Luis Valbuena batting with the tying run on third base and two outs. The Cleveland Indians lost Game 7 of the 2016 World Series when utility man Michael Martinez grounded out with the tying run aboard.

None of this is to say that baseball should consider drastic rule changes like allowing teams to send hitters to the plate out of order in high-leverage situations. Smart baseball analysis has allowed all of us to appreciate the historic greatness of Trout without postseason success, let alone appearances. He’s been given a team of zeroes to work with and can only do so much.

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So, while Kris Bryant was launched into the big leagues with a core capable of carrying him to the big leagues and a ring in his second season, Trout has been left to wonder what could have been had the Angels done a better job surrounding him with capable teammates. Titles or not, though, Trout is on track to go down as one of, if not the greatest, players in MLB history.

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