The Angels’ starting rotation looks shaky as they head into the postseason

The last two seasons, the biggest question surrounding the Los Angeles Angels hasn’t been Albert Pujols’ foot or whether Mike Trout will win an MVP. It’s been the starting pitching.

Last year the pundits said, “Yes, Mike Trout is great and they signed Josh Hamilton, but they need pitching.” An 78-84 record backed up that. So the Angels’ main offseason move was getting two starters in trade for Mark Trumbo. The pitching got better this season — told you so, people said — and the Angels became the best team in MLB.

They’ve had the AL West locked up for a week now, sitting pretty with a 96-61 record and a 39-24 second half that’s helped them zoom past the Oakland Athletics in the standings. But now, as the Angels are a week away from the postseason, the question is the same as it was in April 2013: “Do they have enough pitching?”

The injuries have piled up the past six weeks. The question marks are becoming more obvious. They’ve lost five games out of their last seven. Those games aren’t terribly important, of course, but a few of the scores have been jarring — 13-2, 12-3, 8-4. The Angels’ 4.33 ERA in September is sixth-worst in MLB. All of it is enough to make you wonder whether the Angels are built to succeed in the postseason.

C.J. Wilson, now the Angels’ No. 2 starter because of injuries, was knocked out of Monday’s game against the A’s in the first inning after giving up six runs. Hector Santiago, acquired in the Trumbo trade, lasted just one inning Friday against the Rangers and two innings in his previous start against the Astros. We’re not talking about world-beating opponents here.

After losing Monday night, Angels skipper Mike Scioscia told reporters:

“There’s not many options we have right now. We need these guys, and we have confidence they’ll find it.”

The Angels have benefited by having an offense — led by MVP front-runner Mike Trout — that can outscore just about anybody. They’ve scored 123 runs in September, a month that’s included a 10-game winning streak. That’s the most in baseball, and the most in the AL by 22. But the Angels have also given up 96 runs in September, the second-highest total in the AL. Only the Minnesota Twins have surrendered more. 

While the win-loss column hasn’t taken a huge hit, the injury report may make some Angels fans weep:

• Garrett Richards, who became the Angels’ ace after a breakout season (13-4, 2.61 ERA), is out for the rest of the year with a knee injury.

• Tyler Skaggs, the other pitcher acquired in the Trumbo trade, had Tommy John surgery in August.

• Matt Shoemaker, an undrafted, out-of-nowhere rookie who won 16 games and only allowed six earned runs in all of August, is the latest to get hurt. He’s sidelined indefinitely with an oblique injury.

The Angels’ postseason prospects could very well depend on whether Shoemaker returns in the lights-out style he’s shown this summer. He’s 11-2 with a 2.09 ERA since July 1, but Shoemaker likely won’t pitch again in the regular season and he’s “iffy” for the postseason at last report.

The Angels have gotten so beat up that they’ve used relief pitcher Cory Rasmus as a four-inning starter a few times and employed a “bullpen game” strategy from there. That won’t fly in the postseason, of course. If Shoemaker doesn’t return, the Angels are looking at a three-man rotation starring Wilson, Santiago and Jered Weaver. 

Weaver is the only one of those who’s not a legitimate question mark. He’s back to being the Angels’ No. 1 starter, a role he’s familiar with. He quietly had a solid year, piling up 18 wins with a 3.52 ERA. 

Sending Richards, Weaver and Shoemaker out to pitch in a three-game series seems much more daunting, but that’s not the reality for the Angels anymore. The trio of Weaver, Wilson and Santiago could very well be one of the worst, on paper, to make it into this postseason.

This is not good news for the Angels. Scoring the most runs in baseball for the season is nice, but that’s not what the postseason is about. Just look around the league and see how other contenders are built. It’s all about pitching, pitching and more pitching. Look at the Dodgers or the Tigers, even the A’s. Sure, they have faulted since Aug. 1, but their pitching still makes them scary in October.

Those teams know: the postseason is all about shut-down pitching, not seeing your best pitchers get shut down.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz