In Major League Baseball, there are rivalries that just bring the game to the surface during the hot summer months when very little is going on in the sports world. The Yankees-Red Sox showdown, while leading to games that drag on, always brings baseball back to its glory days. The Cubs-Cardinals matchup provides the classic "is the old way better than the new way?" question. And of course, who could forget the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, which brought baseball out to the West Coast sixty years ago?
However, according to ESPN's Buster Olney, there is one other set of teams that could make the storylines throughout the dog days of summer: the Los Angeles Angels and the Houston Astros.
Is Olney correct? Is this the rivalry that most fans will be talking about this season? I don't see it.
Let's look at what the Angels have done this offseason. They managed to reel in the big fish this winter when they signed two-way star Shohei Ohtani from the Nippon Professional Baseball League's Nippon Ham Fighters.
They signed former Reds shortstop Zack Cozart and followed that up with a trade for second baseman Ian Kinsler. How has that worked out so far? Ohtani is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 15 innings on the mound while hitting .333 with 3 home runs and 11 RBI's. Cozart has struggled of late, his average has plummeted to .221, and Kinsler missing time with an ankle injury.
Add that to home run leader Mike Trout, Andrelton Simmons, Justin Upton, and old man Albert Pujols, and this lineup, when clicking, can square off with anyone.
The thing about Houston is that they had very few holes to fill in their lineup. They still have the likes of Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Jose Altuve. Josh Reddick, even with a lackluster average, has bolstered the power supply with a team-leading 6 homers. Brian McCann and Max Stassi are proving to be a formidable duo behind the plate. Once the weather gets warm, this team is going to bust out.
The big difference between these two teams is what they did with their pitching staffs. Yes, Ohtani has proven that he can succeed at the big league level on the mound, but outside of him, Los Angeles really did not do much to bolster the rotation. They are relying on Garrett Richards being healthy, on Andrew Heaney and Tyler Skaggs finally proving that they can be major league caliber pitchers, and Nick Tropeano to be, well, good enough.
The Astros, meanwhile, only got better. They have Justin Verlander for a full season, Charlie Morton had a renaissance year in 2017, but they were not satisfied. They went out and traded for Gerrit Cole, who would be a number one starter most anywhere else. He sits as the No. 4 starter. The Astros added so much depth to their rotations that Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock, who were instrumental in the rotation, are stuck in the bullpen for this year.
Look, I would love to see another big story outside of Boston, New York, Chicago, and LA. I just don't think the Angels have enough to keep pace with the reigning World Series champions, who won the AL West by 21 games.
