Not Necessarily Angelic

It's gotten to the point in the season where two teams have deviated from the pack and are on top of a division...and honestly, you can just forget about the other three teams.

The AL West is like that this year. The Rangers and Astros are doing things right, and everyone else has a ton of problems. The Angels are still technically winning games, but they're so structurally flawed that I'm not sure if it'll go on for long.

Yes, Mike Trout is still the best player in baseball. We all know that, this is a fact. Nobody else on the Angels is willing to go anywhere near his level of gameplay this season, which is sad. The pitching isn't great, the hitting's lackluster, and they're winning games by the skin of their teeth. Without Mike Trout, I have no idea where they'd be.

Ricky Nolasco was kept around as an opportune rotation leader, but Matt Shoemaker's basically taken that on himself, and Nolasco...hasn't had much to do. Anybody who got anywhere near doing well has gotten injured.

The Angels need to find whatever's keeping them at third and harness it, because it's all they've got left.

Coming Tomorrow- Hard-hitting first baseman for a team that didn't know they needed one until a month before the season started.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2016: Angels

Well, it's December. Which means, for the next 31 days, I have a reason to blog again.

I'm doing what I usually do in December- for every day of this month, I'll take one of the thirty teams, and take a look of some of the more noteworthy players that I didn't get to make customs of over the course of the season. Up first, since this is alphabetical because I adhere to the status quo, we're talking about the Los Angeles Angels.

After a pretty decent run for the top in 2015, the Angels looked deflated, de-powered and tired (aside from Mike Trout). Jered Weaver, once the dominant fireballer ace, has lost his velocity, and is hanging onto whatever cred he has left.

C.J. Cron had another nice hitting season, even if was marred by some injuries. Him and Calhoun make up a pretty decent core of a lineup that could be great with more care put in.

Ricky Nolasco was a last minute addition, swapped for Hector Santiago late in the year, and did a pretty admirable job keeping up the team in the latter half. He might stick around, and I think it would be welcome.

I already made a custom of this guy, but he won the MVP so we have to talk about him again.

Mike Trout is for real. He's got two MVPs, a Rookie of the Year, and is still playing like an absolute beast, even five years after breaking into the bigs. He's showed no signs of slowing down, and if he keeps this up, we could be looking at the next gold standard for ballplayers. Also, I'm hoping he stays in Anaheim- the Angels need a flagship hero like this.

Coming Tomorrow- The Astros fell short of a wild card, but still did some solid stuff when people were counting them out.