Juggernaut Angels Positioned as World Series Favorites Heading Toward Postseason

No team in Major League Baseball is hotter right now than the Los Angeles Angels, who have positioned themselves as the favorites to reach—and maybe even win—the World Series thanks to an incredible second-half run that continued Thursday night.

Already owners of the best record in baseball and the first club to reach the 90-win mark, the Halos' 7-3 win over the lowly Texas Rangers, who have baseball's worst record, brought quite a few benchmarks, as Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com points out:

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This latest victory, an eight-reliever effort over nine innings, put them a season-best 36 games above .500 and 10 games up on the A's in the American League West, their magic number to clinch a division titled whittled to seven with 16 games remaining. They've won 14 of their last 16, and they're the first visiting team to win nine games in one season at Globe Life Park.

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Overall, the Angels (91-55) have gone 34-18 since the All-Star break, which ties them with the Baltimore Orioles for the most wins in that time.

What's amazing about that is how Los Angeles has rallied despite losing Cy Young candidate Garrett Richards (knee surgery) and young lefty Tyler Skaggs (Tommy John surgery) to season-ending injuries that might have hampered a lesser team.

But Thursday's victory was just the latest example of how these Angels have faced challenges and come through.

"We're showing our resiliency," manager Mike Scioscia said, per Gonzalez. "These guys have been grinding it out. There's a room full of guys that are playing their hearts out. It's a long year. It's a grind. No matter if we get set back with a couple of bad games or we're on a roll like we are now, it's an important time of year."

Given the depleted state of the rotation—which now consists of nominal ace Jered Weaver, struggling veteran C.J. Wilson, capable southpaw Hector Santiago and out-of-nowhere savior Matt Shoemaker—the Halos have been using reliever Cory Rasmus as a fifth "starter."

Despite not having started since he was in High-A back in 2011, the 26-year-old Rasmus (brother of the Toronto Blue Jays' Colby) now has made three for Los Angeles in the heat of a pennant race, as the Angels strive to hold off the O's and gain home-field advantage throughout the postseason. In his three starts, Rasmus has held his own, giving up three runs in eight innings, while the Angels have won all three turns.

They've reached this point by using their MLB-best offense—which has scored nearly 40 runs more than the No. 2 team—to bludgeon the opposition. That can be attributed primarily to MVP front-runner Mike Trout (.285/.373/.548, 102 runs and career highs of 32 homers and 103 RBI) as well as the return to health of Albert Pujols, whose 26 homers and 92 RBI have him in line to earn Comeback Player of the Year.

But just like the rotation, the lineup hasn't been at full strength, either, as former MVP Josh Hamilton remains in a funk (.263/.331/.415) while battling through recent shoulder soreness after he came back from tearing a ligament in his wrist in April.

"If you're in a pennant race, Josh is one of those guys who would play through the discomfort, and this is something he can't play with," Scioscia told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. "Naturally we're concerned."

And yet, the Angels have kept rolling, winning every game Hamilton has missed—and he's been out since helping L.A. kick off this eight-game streak on Sept. 4.

Aside from Trout, Pujols and the gritty performances by the makeshift four-and-a-half-man rotation, the Angels have received under-the-radar contributions from second baseman Howie Kendrick, shortstop Erick Aybar and, especially, right fielder Kole Calhoun.

In his first full major league campaign, the 26-year-old has become the club's leadoff hitter, and the underrated lefty swinger has done a darn good job in that role, posting a .283/.335/.470 line and scoring 80 runs in 111 games. And when Calhoun scores, the Angels just win:

Meanwhile, the bullpen has gone from a weakness to a much-needed strength after general manager Jerry Dipoto traded for closer Huston Street from the San Diego Padres and setup man Jason Grilli from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Those two, along with their late-inning brethren Joe Smith, Kevin Jepsen, Fernando Salas, Mike Morin and waiver-claim addition Vinnie Pestano, has propelled the Angels to a 2.43 bullpen ERA in the second half—best in baseball.

Fittingly, that brings this full circle, since Scioscia used seven different relievers—eight if you count Rasmus—to capture Thursday's game.

Here's Smith on the effort, via Gonzalez:

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I love it. In September you're not hoping for a bullpen day. You'd rather have Garrett Richards in the rotation. But we take adversity as it comes, when it comes. We're up for the challenge. It's not like, 'Oh, man, another bullpen day.' It's like, 'Let's go.' It's a unifying feeling for the coaching staff to have the confidence in us to do that.

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That formula is a little extreme, even for this club. But it's no secret that the Angels are relying on their potent offense and dynamic bullpen to prop up a batch of starters that have been able to do enough to get the job done.

The postseason tends to be a different animal, however, one that often requires the presence of at least one shutdown starter, which the Angels lack now that Richards is out of the picture.

But with the way this team is cooking right now, who's to say it's not the World Series favorite? Especially since the Angels are only a couple of weeks from locking up the top seed—and home field—in the AL.

And if the Angels can get through to the Fall Classic, they'll once again be the home team to start, thanks to the AL's win in the Midsummer Classic.

In case you forgot, the MVP of that one was none other than Mike Trout.

Statistics are accurate as of Sept. 11 and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11