The top two voters in last year’s American League MVP race, unanimous winner Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., will face off Thursday.
A four-game series against a solid Los Angeles Los Angeles club, with Ohtani on top for the first goal, concludes a six-game road trip for Guerrero and the Blue Jays.
PROBABLE PLANTS
Thursday: 21:38 ET / 18:38 PT (Sportsnet ONE) Los Angeles RHP Shohei Ohtani (3-2, 2.82 ERA)
Friday: 9:38 pm ET / 18:38 pm Los Angeles RHP Chase Silseth (1-1. 2.61 ERA)
Saturday: 22:07 ET / 19:07 PT (Sportsnet ONE): Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (2-1, 3.47 ERA) vs. Los Angeles RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-2, 3.05 ERA)
Sunday: 16:07 ET / 13:07 PT (Sportsnet ONE): Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (3-2, 4.75 ERA) vs. Los Angeles LHP Patrick Sandoval (3-1, 1.79 ERA)
LAST THE BLUE JAYS
A game is not a turnaround, but perhaps the Blue Jays (23-20) can generate a rare offensive boost in the 8-1 victory over the St. Paul Cardinals. Louis Tuesday. He scored just the sixth time in 21 games this month in which Toronto has scored more than three runs.
Danny Jansen’s three-run homer, his first of two home runs of the night, marked Toronto’s first time cleaning the fence with more than one runner since April 29th. Guerrero Jr. also connected for a home run, only his second this month and first since May 5th.
Despite the offensive problems before Tuesday, Toronto had gained more than it had lost last week thanks in large part to the excellent work of the initial rotation.
LAST THE ANGELS
The Angels (27-18) settled for a miniseries division with Texas after a 7-2 loss to the visiting Rangers on Wednesday. Angels star Mike Trout put it out four times for the eighth time in his career, while Ohtani made it 0 of 3 with two innings and tripped the bases before scoring in the first.
Coach Joe Maddon’s club leads the AL with 214 runs scored and is two games behind the Houston Astros in the race for first place in the AL West.
The Angels have not reached the playoffs since 2014 and their last winning season was a year later.
VLADDY VS. SHOHEI
For the first time since Ohtani defeated Guerrero Jr. for the MVP award last season, the two stars face off on Thursday.
This time, though, neither is really in the main MVP conversation. Ohtani is making another impressive year on the pile (he hasn’t allowed more than two runs in his last five outings), but he’s been calmer on the plate (.251 / .318 / .451 with nine homers and 28 RBIs). Guerrero (.263 / .356 / .447 with eight homers and 22 RBIs) was fighting before his homer on Tuesday, a good boost in the face of a clash with Ohtani and a return to one of his old stamping fields. pare.
Guerrero has faced Ohtani only once: he was 1 of 2 with a single, walk and put last August in the Angels victory by 6-3 in Anaheim.
TALKING ABOUT MVP …
Could the Angels become the first team to have consecutive MVP winners since the Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander in 2011, Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and ’13) got three in a row?
Trout (.319 / .425 / .674 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs) is doing his best to make this happen. After losing most of last season with a calf injury, Trout ranks second in the major leagues in wins over this year’s substitution, according to fangraphs.com.
CONNECTION TO TORONTO
Two Angels bullpen members, left-hander Aaron Loup and right-hander Ryan Tepera, were part of the Toronto playoff teams in 2015 and ’16.
The Blue Jays will not face former Toronto prospect Noah Syndergaard, the starter of this series. After losing most of the last two seasons with the Mets after Tommy John’s surgery, Syndergaard signed a one-year deal with the Angels this year.
Toronto will also not face left-wing debutant Reid Detmers, who pitched a no-hits earlier this month against Tampa Bay. Detmers took the defeat in Wednesday’s loss to Texas.
UNTIL NEXT
The Blue Jays have a day off Monday before starting a three-game set at the Rogers Center against another playoff contender: the Chicago White Sox. A six-game homestand then concludes with three games against the team Chicago is chasing at the top of the Central AL: the Minnesota Twins.