The major league regular season has played 847 games, 34.9% of the total schedule as of the 2nd (hereinafter Korean time). Two months have passed since the start of the season, and two months remain until the trade deadline.
The trade deadline this year is August 2 at 7:00 a.m. Now is the time for each club to judge its chances of making the playoffs and decide the direction the team will go. Whether to rebuild or go all-in for fall baseball should be outlined at least until the All-Star break.먹튀검증
The player who is attracting the most attention regarding this year’s trade is Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. After this season, Ohtani, who will become a free agent for the first time after entering the major leagues, has said “I want to win” countless times over the past two years. All he wants to do is win.
However, the Angels failed to cross the threshold of fall baseball for eight consecutive years until last year. Ohtani has never made the playoffs in the major leagues. After Babe Ruth, he wrote the myth of dual careers for the first time in 100 years, but he is not able to apply it to the championship.
Because of this, the prospect that Ohtani is very likely to leave the Angels is dominant. Over the past month, local media have mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals as potential destinations predicted by local media.
Of course, the possibility of changing teams during this season cannot be ruled out. This is because if the Angels give up the playoffs this year, they will have no choice but to trade Ohtani.
Ohtani hit two home runs against the Chicago White Sox on the 1st (Korean time). AP Yonhap News
Japanese fans are taking pictures with cell phones at Ohtani right after the White Sox game. AP Yonhap News
ESPN reporter Jeff Passan said in an article titled “Preview of the Early MLB Trade Deadline” on the 2nd, “It is simple what the Angels will do with Ohtani. If he doesn’t collapse completely before the trade deadline, they’ll be holding on to Ohtani,” he said. “The Angels are trying to make the playoffs by using Jack Neto, who has been drafted less than a year ago, at shortstop, and bringing up fireballer Ben Joyce from Double-A. I’m doing my best. If there is Ohtani, the Angels believe that there is a possibility of advancing to fall baseball,” he said.
The Angels have always said “that’s not going to happen” about the Ohtani trade. However, owner Art Moreno said in an interview with Sports Illustrated in March, “I’m telling you officially. We won’t trade Ohtani if we’re in playoff competition.” In other words, you can trade when your postseason chances are slim.
However, the current position of the Angels is ambiguous. As of this day, the Angels are 4th in the American League West with 30 wins and 27 losses. They are 6.5 games behind the leading Texas Rangers and 4 games behind the third-place New York Yankees in the wild card rankings.
The win rate is steadily maintained in the 50% range, but the playoff odds are low. If you look at Fangraphs’ playoff odds, the Angels are maintaining around 25%. Objectively, it should be seen that fall baseball is difficult this year as well. However, the Angels are full of hope for the two rabbits, ‘Fall Baseball’ and ‘Otani Yuyu’.
First of all, the performance is better than last season. Last year, they recorded 27 wins and 31 losses in 58 matches. The ranking was high, second in the Western Division, but the number of wins was 3 fewer than this year. Coincidentally, it was the 58th game on the day of 14 consecutive losses, the most in the history of the club. Ohtani later described it as “very disappointing” in an interview on arrival in Japan after the season.
Bankrupt reporter said, “The Angels will maintain a win rate of more than 50% and will strongly believe that they will not trade Ohtani, the world’s best baseball player, every time they win.” He appeared on the show and announced that he would not trade Juan Soto. But two months later, Soto became a San Diego player.”
Just before the trade deadline on August 3 of last year, San Diego gave up six players, including three minor league prospects and three key players in the major leagues, to Washington for Soto and Josh Bell. It was evaluated as the most expensive trade in history.
This year, no matter which team the opponent is, Ohtani may become like Soto.