ANAHEIM, Calif.  — The All-Star Week festivities have come and gone, and now it’s time for teams to focus on the home stretch of the season. 

For the Angels, it’s another year that they’re stuck in no man’s land as the July 31st trade deadline approaches. They currently sit at 47-49, nine games out of the division and four games out of the final wild-card spot. 

Needless to say, the next two weeks are critical for the Angels’ outlook for the rest of the season. 

The Angels kick off the second half with a tough road trip to Philadelphia and then New York to face the Mets. When they return home, a four-game set against the Seattle Mariners and a three-game series against the Texas Rangers are all they have until the deadline. 

Those four teams combine for a .541 winning percentage. It’ll be a tall task for the Angels to put themselves in a position to be clear-cut buyers at the deadline, but a silver lining for the Angels is that they are 25-24 against teams with a winning record this season. 

If the Angels can keep their head above water ahead of the deadline, it could be enough to convince the front office to go for it. 

“I think they know,” Mike Trout said of the Angels front office recognizing that the Angels can compete. “They’re down here, they see it and they feel it. They know the guys have gotten this far.  It’s fun to come to the ballpark and see the guys work and pull for each other out there.”

As for how the Angels have gotten to this point, it took a bit for the Angels to find their footing. In the middle of April, the Angels went on a 19-game stretch when they were 4-15.

Up until that point, the Angels had been one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, with statistics like batting average, on-base percentage, strikeout rate and walk rate all being either worst or second-worst in baseball. 

Another area where the Angels struggled was in the bullpen. By the time the calendar hit May 18, the Angels’ bullpen held a 7.06 ERA, by far the worst in the big leagues. 

Flame thrower Ben Joyce needing shoulder surgery in May and Robert Stephenson only having two appearances definitely have not helped the bullpen’s cause.

But since the middle of May, both the offense and the bullpen have settled in, and it’s been the reason why the Angels have climbed back to near .500.

Since May 12, the offense is hitting .243 with a .743 OPS and is drawing walks at an 8.6% clip. All drastically better than the .216 average, .659 OPS and 6.5% walk rate that were all at or near the bottom of baseball. Their offensive ranks since May 12 are all just outside of the top 10. 

FanGraphs’  weighted runs created plus (wRC+) metric encapsulates a multitude of statistics to create a number where 100 is the league average. Since May 12, the Angels’ wRC+ is 106, which is 12th best in baseball. 

The success of the offense has been a blend of veterans and young guns stepping up. 

Most notably, Jo Adell is starting to break out after struggling to establish himself in the big leagues over the last few years. Adell has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the last month and a half, hitting .295 with a .969 OPS and 13 home runs in 44 games since May 26.

Trout has also been a big contributor for the Angels since returning from the injured list with a bone bruise in his knee. In 41 games since coming off the injured list, Trout is hitting .283 with a .911 OPS and eight home runs. 

Two other youngsters who are in the middle of the Angels’ offensive success are Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel. Neto has been one of the Angels’ best hitters all season, but now Schanuel is starting to settle in as well. Since May 12, Neto is hitting .283 with a .827 OPS and Schanuel is hitting .285 with a .797 OPS. 

“I think the biggest thing is the calmness that they have during their at-bats,” Travis d’Arnaud said of the Angels youngsters’ improvements this year. “They’re all staying patient and not trying to hit a grand slam with only a runner on first or even with bases empty. The at-bats are becoming quality at-bats more often and nobody’s really over-swinging it.”

As for the bullpen, after being the worst in baseball for the first month and a half, it’s been a top-10 bullpen since. 

Since May 19, the bullpen’s 3.46 ERA is the 10th best in baseball. 

“We rely on the bullpen quite a bit, and they’ve been great,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. 

Veteran closer Kenley Jansen has come as advertised for the most part. Jansen’s ERA is 3.38 on the season, but if you take away the six earned run blowup on May 2 against the Detroit Tigers, Jansen’s ERA goes down to 1.85.

Reid Detmers’ first taste of the bullpen has been similar to Jansen’s season. Detmers’ season hit an all-time low when he gave up 12 earned runs across three appearances and only recorded one out. 

Since then, Detmers has pitched to a 1.24 ERA in 29 innings while striking out 38 batters. His overall ERA is down to 4.15 now. 

An unexpected name that has been vital to the Angels’ bullpen is Brock Burke. Like the rest of the bullpen, Burke was off to a slow start but turned things around when the rest of the bullpen did too. 

Since May 19, Burke has had a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings pitched, lowering his ERA to 3.65 on the year.

“We saw glimpses of it last year when we acquired him, and then true to form, the big leagues will always adjust back, and then he had to adjust back, and he’s certainly done that,” Montgomery said. “He’s been great, and he’s relentless. We’ve asked a lot of him. He’s gotten a lot of opportunities this year, and he’s responded really well.”

With the offense and the bullpen rolling, it’s going to be imperative for the Angels to get consistency from their rotation and defense. 

Angels starters have a 4.38 ERA this year, including Yusei Kikuchi’s 3.11 ERA to earn himself an All-Star nod. José Soriano has had dominant starts and starts where he struggled. The same goes for Tyler Anderson. Kyle Hendricks has been better as of late, but still isn’t a guarantee to go deep into games. And now the Angels have an open spot in the rotation after Jack Kochanowicz was optioned right before the All-Star break.

Defensively, the Angels have been one of the worst teams in baseball, no matter what metrics you look at. They have a .982 fielding percentage, which is the fifth lowest in the league, a -48 defensive runs saved, which is the second lowest in the league and a -29 outs above average, which is the worst in baseball. 

With all that said, the Angels will face an uphill battle to break their decade-long playoff drought.