BCE

The Los Angeles Angels will not trade Shohei Ohtani at the MLB trade deadline.

Instead, they’ve gone all-in to make a playoff push.

Late last night, SI’s Tom Verducci revealed that the Angels were taking Ohtani off the trade market and instead shifting their focus to chasing a postseason spot.

A couple of hours later, the Angels acquired Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the Chicago White Sox in a trade that sent two of their top prospects the other way.

Los Angeles is four games back of the final American League Wild Card spot heading into a crucial stretch before the MLB trade deadline.

If the Angels can make a serious push this week, then perhaps they can find themselves back in the thick of contention for an AL Wild Card spot on August 1st.

If the Angels struggle in today’s double-header against the Detroit Tigers and this weekend’s series against the Toronto Blue Jays, it will be a much different story. 

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday July 27th, 2023.

All eyes were on the Angels to see what they would do at this year’s MLB trade deadline.

While the consensus always appeared to be that they would keep Ohtani through the season, that didn’t stop the hype when it came to hypothetical trade scenarios for the biggest star in baseball.

Within a few hours late last night, it became very clear that for better or worse, LA was serious about keeping Ohtani and making a postseason push.

EXCLUSIVE: Shohei Ohtani is off the trade market, a source familiar to the Angels' decision told SI’s Tom Verducci. Los Angeles, four games off a wild-card spot, will instead make a push for the postseason https://t.co/5Rq6s4ImUW

The Angels traded two top prospects to acquire a starting pitcher in Giolito and a reliever in Lopez.

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