Shaky pitching has the Angels nosediving in latest power rankings

While not many were thinking about the Los Angeles Angels going into the 2026 season, they were quick to turn heads. They got off to a solid start, and the spark from Mike Trout and Jose Soriano had the fans excited. 

Trout has been quick to get it going at the plate. Across 28 games, he is hitting .232/.415/.545 with nine home runs, 20 runs batted in, and an AL-leading 26 runs scored. 

Soriano has quickly emerged as a Cy Young candidate for his start to the season. He is tied for the MLB lead with five wins and holds an MLB-leading 0.24 ERA over the course of 37.2 innings of work. 

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Shaky pitching has the Angels nosediving in latest power rankings

While the Angels have gotten off to a good start, this past week was tough for them. They were unable to win their series against the Toronto Blue Jays and were then swept by the Kansas City Royals over the weekend. 

This has led to their 12-17 record, going into Monday's matchups. And with this, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller had no choice but to bump them down from No. 18 to No. 28, putting major blame on the bullpen. 

"They designated Jordan Romano for assignment on Sunday afternoon after his latest nightmare of an outing, and then two relievers not named Romano blew saves on Sunday evening. Whatever the opposite of Midas Touch is, that's what this pitching staff has at the moment."

Brent Suter gave up the save in the ninth inning on Sunday while up three runs. And then in the 11th inning, with their team up a run, Joey Lucchesi gave up two runs, allowing the Royals to walk it off. 

The Halos will need to figure out their bullpen woes. If they can't, it could be much of the same for this team, even with Trout and Soriano surging.

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