Things couldn't be going worse for the Los Angeles Angels, and the "Drake Curse" might be to blame.
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On Monday August 7, the Angels were just three outs away from their first win since the trade deadline, and ESPN Analytics gave them more than an 87% chance of sealing the victory — before disaster struck in the top of the ninth. The Giants scored six runs in the final frame, more than erasing the Halos' one-run lead and sending LA to their seventh-consecutive loss following the trade deadline.
Despite rostering two of the game's biggest stars in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, the Angels haven't been a particularly competitive ballclub over the past decade or so. With Ohtani's contract expiring at the end of this season, the organization made the bold choice to forgo what would have surely been an enormous trade package and instead make one last run at it with both of their mega-talents. At the time, they were five games over .500 and just three away from a playoff spot — not an outstanding position, but not an impossible one either.
Having not won a single game since the deadline, the team has a losing record and is eight games back from the American League's sixth seed, with three squads between LA and the lowest playoff spot. Unlike teams such as the Cubs — who were on the fringes of the playoff picture at the deadline, chose to be buyers, and are now in the thick of the race — the Angels' gamble has backfired in an enormous way. They are unlikely to make the postseason and will all but surely lose Ohtani in free agency over the winter.
As is so often the case, there is a connection between underperformance on the field and none other than Aubrey Drake Graham, known to the music-listening public as Drake. The Canadian rapper was spotted wearing a very stylish Ohtani All Star jersey a few days ago, and things have not gone well for the player since.
Drake spotted rocking a Shohei Ohtani All-Star Game jersey https://t.co/gKhzrXAqNe
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 4, 2023
Starting that afternoon, he's gone 4 for 16 with seven strikeouts, no runs batted in, no home runs added to his league-leading total — and, of course, the team has not won a game. We'll see if Ohtani and the Halos can turn it around, or if the Drake Curse has claimed another victim.
