The Los Angeles Angels open up a four-game road series against the New York Yankees after winning the rubber match and series against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Angels have had an interesting start to the season and are 8-8 through its first 16 games.
Being .500 this early doesn’t mean too much, but for a team that isn’t expected to do much this season, the Angels and its fan base will certainly take it. When you watch this team, it’s easy to see that the offense isn’t great but is very opportunistic and can make teams pay when they don’t throw strikes.
The Angels’ offense leads Major League Baseball in walks drawn (77), hits a lot of home runs (19, tied-third) and scores a lot of runs (73) with a middle-of-the-pack team OPS (.681). The pitching staff issues the second-most walks in MLB (86) and is tied for the fifth-worst WHIP (1.42) but is fifth in opponent batting average (.218) and tied for seventh in strikeouts (146).
Who can be thanked for the mostly positive team pitching stats? Right-hander José Soriano, who has been the best pitcher in baseball to begin the season. Soriano, 27, is 4-0 with an impressive 0.33 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 31 strikeouts through 27 innings.
Soriano joins Fernando Valenzuela, Roger Clemens (twice) and Zack Greinke as the only pitchers to throw 27 or more innings and allow no more than one earned run with 31 or more strikeouts through their first four starts.
He dominated the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, pitching seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball with three walks and 10 strikeouts. The New York Yankees are lucky to avoid Soriano during the four-game series between the Halos and Bronx Bombers because with the way he’s throwing, it looks like nobody can stop him right now.
The series opener will feature a pitching matchup of Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi and Yankees righty Will Warren.
Kikuchi has had a rough go of it to start the season, owning an 0-2 record with a 6.75 ERA and 1.77 WHIP through 14.2 innings. He escaped his first start against the Houston Astros, only allowing two runs but surrendering eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts. However, Kikuchi was rocked by the Chicago Cubs, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks with five strikeouts through 5.1 innings before the Atlanta Braves tagged him for four runs on six hits and a free pass with eight strikeouts.
Warren has had much more success over his three starts in the early going as he is 1-0 with a 3.07 ERA and 1.30 WHIP over 14.2 innings. Warren went 4.1 innings against the San Francisco Giants and allowed one run on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts, 5.2 innings against the Miami Marlins while allowing two runs on four hits with six punchouts and 4.2 innings against the Athletics in which he allowed two runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
The Angels need more from its lone 2025 All-Star and today could be the day as the Yankees haven’t been great offensively. If Kikuchi can limit his walks, he could find himself in the win column for the first time.
First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. EDT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.