The Angels’ fading playoff hopes got dimmer on Thursday, and Shohei Ohtani doesn’t appear to be enjoying it.
The two-way superstar seemed to get emotional after his team suffered a devastating 5-3 loss to the Mariners, one of many squads they’re competing against for a postseason spot.
The Angels blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning after All-Star closer Carlos Estévez gave up a grand slam to rookie Cade Marlowe.
The Angels opted to keep Ohtani at the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline after weeks of rumors about potentially moving the AL MVP frontrunner.
The franchise instead decided to bring in former All-Star Lucas Giolito and right-handed bats Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron to bolster their rotation and lineup.
“I think this is the first time in my six years that we’ve been buyers,” Ohtani said after the moves. “We’ve been sellers the last five years. So this is new to me. I just want to get to know the new guys and welcome them in and compete all together.”
“From the beginning, my plan was to finish the season with the Angels,” Ohtani later added. “Nothing is really going to change mentally, but all the people talking about the trades — that’s going to be all gone.
“I feel like I’ll just focus on taking this team to the playoffs.”
But those deals haven’t paid off yet.
On the morning of the deadline, the Angels were 56-51 and just three games out of the third AL Wild Card spot.
They’ve since lost three straight and now trail the Blue Jays by four games in the race.
The Angels’ playoff odds have fallen from 14.8% to 8.4% since the Aug. 1, according to FanGraphs.
The Angels haven’t made the postseason during Ohtani’s five-year tenure with the team despite an overlap with outfielder Mike Trout and their Hall of Fame-worthy efforts.
Ohtani has produced another MVP-caliber season, slashing .310/.413/.685 at the plate and posting a 3.32 ERA and striking out 11.6 per nine innings over 21 starts on the mound.
During Thursday night’s loss, Ohtani hit his MLB-leading 40th home run, putting him on pace for 59 this season.
The long ball came after he pitched four innings of shutout ball before exiting with cramping in his finger.