ANAHEIM, Calif. — Last week, when the Major League Baseball trade deadline came and went, the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels were two teams with different visions for the future.
The Angels held onto superstar Shohei Ohtani and traded for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the Chicago White Sox and Randal Grichuk and CJ Cron from the Colorado Rockies to try and make a push for the playoffs.
The Mariners traded closer Paul Sewald to the Arizona Diamondbacks for outfielder/first baseman Dominic Canzone, utility player Josh Rojas, and prospect Ryan Bliss.
This weekend, the teams met up for a four-game set in Anaheim, and on Sunday evening, the Mariners left Southern California with a four-game sweep under their belts while the reeling Angels have not won a game since the trade deadline.
Locked on Mariners hosts Colby Patnode and Ty Dane Gonzalez discussed how the Mariners’ four-game sweep over the Angels sent a message to both the Angels and Shohei Ohtani.
Gonzalez started the show with a eulogy for the Angels, saying, “All right, gather around everyone for today we lay to rest the 2023 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who, of course, decided to forego a potential all-time trade return for Shohei Ohtani, who, by the way, has not and will not make the postseason wearing an Angels uniform, and also further gutted an already mediocre farm system just to fall under .500.”
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The Angels did miss on a possible trade that could have set them up well for the future. There were teams with plenty of prospects who could have replenished their system, but ownership made a decision which may push Ohtani out the door when his free agency starts this offseason.
As for the Mariners, they are now 60-52, have won five games in a row, and are only two and a half games out of a wildcard spot. Even more impressive, outside of Ohtani’s performance on Thursday in the series opener, in which he went 2-4 with a home run and two walks, the Mariners held him to only two hits over the weekend’s three games. One of them came against Bryce Miller on Sunday, but Miller held his own in a pitcher’s duel with Chase Silseth. Both pitchers were on their game, with Miller striking out 10 and Silseth striking out 12. The game was decided in extra innings when Eugenio Suarez hit an RBI single in the 10th, and the Mariners held on to win 3-2.
It was the first time the Mariners swept the Angels in Anaheim since July 2005, which was also a four-game sweep. Those Mariners finished 69-93 and were only above .500 against four teams all season. They finished 9-9 against the Angels, who finished 95-67 and made it to the American League Championship Series.
It was a collective effort for the Mariners in the four-game sweep. Some games were won by the offense and others by the pitching, but all four games were close, with the first being decided by two runs each and Saturday’s and Sunday’s games being decided by scores of 3-2.
The Mariners are 22-10 since July 1, tied for the best record in baseball since then, along with the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles.
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