Los Angeles Angels Bullpen Continues to Struggle, Should Halos Be Concerned?

The Los Angeles Angels pulled out a wild one at Fenway winning 14-13 over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, C.J Wilson was roughed up. 7 runs, 6 earned, 8 hits in 5 innings and Zach Greinke hasn’t exactly been great either.

Greinke’s 1-2 with an ERA over 6 since joining the Halos, and an even greater concern should be the Angels bullpen. Saying they’ve struggled this season would be an understatement. They’ve got the worst ERA in baseball since the All-Star Break, and even with the deadly lineup they have it’s going to be very tough to consistently win games down the stretch with a pen giving up so many runs.

Since the start of July, Los Angeles’ Bullpen ERA is 5.35. That’s nearly an earned run more than the Toronto Blue Jays who have a 4.39 ERA in that span.

As of August 24, the Angels are in third place in the AL West, 8 ½ games behind the Rangers and 2 ½ games behind three other clubs for the final wildcard spot. Just look at the other two teams ahead of the Halos in the division; the Athletics and the Rangers both have outstanding bullpens.

Then you consider the fact that one of their top arms, C.J. Wilson has been inconsistent — plus Irvin Santana has also struggled this season. The starting pitchers need to be able to shorten the game for their pen and they haven’t been able to do so.

If they Angels get consistent pitching in September, especially from their pen — they’ve got as good a shot as anyone to get in that one game playoff. Right now, that’s looking like a pretty big “If”.