Swanson: With Shohei Ohtani still aboard, Angels have work to do

ANAHEIM — The Angels were back in town Thursday after an eventful nine-game road trip – and who’d they bring back with them?

Just the greatest player of all time.

Shohei Ohtani, the American League’s Player of the Month in July, just as he was in June – repeating last year’s June-July double, which was already something only he’d done before.

On Thursday night, he did as much as he could, pitching four scoreless innings, reaching base all four times he came to the plate, scoring twice and hitting his MLB-leading 40th home run. Still, the Angels lost a 5-3 heartbreaker to the Seattle Mariners, whose rookie Cade Marlowe hit a ninth-inning grand slam off Carlos Estévez, the All-Star closer who suffered his first blown save all season.

It spoiled a festive evening at Angel Stadium, where kids chanted “Oh-tan-eeh!” and “M-V-P!” every time he strode to the plate, those delighted, high-pitched voices part of the chorus of 37,701 fans offering a warm welcome home – home, for now, for this stretch run, for this shot at the playoffs. A long shot that got longer Thursday, but still.

“I mean, ideally, I wish I could’ve gone close to 100 pitches and saved the bullpen, helped them out,” said Ohtani, who was pulled after 59 pitches because his right middle finger was cramping, an issue he hoped wouldn’t cost him any games.

“But,” he added, “a loss is a loss. It happens, just gotta turn the page.”

The Angels weren’t ready to turn the page on Ohtani – who made the stadium shake in the eighth inning when he drilled the home run that gave the Angels a short-lived 3-1 lead – so they siphoned some of their shallow pool of prospects in an effort to fortify their roster around him.

They relinquished prospects to acquire right-handed starter Lucas Giolito and right-handed reliever Reynaldo Lopez from the Chicago White Sox, in the process pushing their payroll over the $233 million threshold for the luxury tax.

And then they went and got first baseman C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk – who should help fill in for Taylor Ward, out with facial fractures sustained when he was hit by a pitch last weekend – from the Colorado Rockies.

With those additions, the Angels fashioned a roster that’s meant to look less like Ohtani and some guys and more like a legitimate wild-card contender, more so when they get Mike Trout back from the wrist injury that has sidelined him since early July.

They signaled they’re determined to push for the playoffs in this final season before Ohtani, the brilliant, doubly impactful sensation, is eligible for free agency. They’re hoping both to end the team’s eight-year playoff drought and to show him the club is committed to winning.

That’s the sort of motivation I’d want from a team I rooted for. I’d want my club to maximize its window with a generational talent, especially if it’s closing. And especially if those efforts could help at all to prop it open.

And maybe Ohtani stays put. Probably he doesn’t.

Didn’t matter.

They owed it to themselves to try, and they owed it to their fans – never mind the conservative faction that would have preferred the club not gamble, not splurge for near-term gratification. That the Angels instead turn their unicorn into some pups.

But we don’t know exactly how rich a trade package was going to transpire for a couple of months of Ohtani, and the Angels decided they weren’t going to let another team plug him in for a late-season playoff push when they had that option themselves.

Now, the hard part, the fun part: That push. That stressful, delicious, and, yes, frustrating time of the season when fans find themselves checking and rechecking the standings, and then checking them again.

With 52 games left, the Angels (56-54) will have to get hot, and fast. They’ll be facing opponents that boast a .508 winning percentage collectively. Fangraphs gives them a fleeting 7.9% chance of making the postseason.

So, yes, this week’s four-game series against the Mariners – now a game-and-a-half ahead of them in the American League wild-card chase – feels as important as any this season.

But then, so will the road series against the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros – two other teams between the Angels and their playoff dreams – from Aug. 11-16.

The Angels will need, of course, to be able to avoid giving up go-ahead grand slams. And they’ll need new guy Giolito to stop hemorrhaging runs (after giving up 12 in his first nine innings as an Angel).

And, after entering Friday hitting .238 with runners in scoring position – 26th in baseball – they’ll need to get in the habit of pushing more of those runs across. Cron, another of those new guys, got it done once Thursday when he singled in Ohtani, who’d drawn a walk before stealing second base in the bottom of the sixth, when the Angels scored twice to take the lead.

It also wouldn’t hurt to be luckier on the injury front.

That includes, obviously, Ohtani, their much-needed hit-maker (he’s batting .310, one of only nine qualified hitters in the majors hitting above .300). Their base-hitting hurler with the nasty sweeper among his sterling repertoire.

For the Angels to capitalize on his presence, they’ll need Ohtani to be able to be Ohtani, all the way through the tape.