The Angels' front office has been in teardown mode for months — Perry Minasian was fired as general manager in late June with the team on pace for one of the worst seasons in franchise history, and John Mozeliak came in to help steer a rebuild that has nothing to do with September baseball. Boston's operating on the opposite timeline entirely.
That opposite timeline is the whole story here. Boston was 14 games under .500 as recently as late June and has been the best team in the sport since, riding interim manager Chad Tracy to a stretch that's put them squarely in the Wild Card picture. Los Angeles has lost 2 straight and sits at 54-90 — closer to triple-digit losses than a .500 season.
There's a talent story buried in the disparity, too. Johnson entered the year as the Angels' No. 2 prospect and flashed it with a 6-inning shutout outing against Baltimore earlier this season, even if the results since haven't followed. Bennett, a rookie the Red Sox picked up from Washington last winter, has quietly turned into a real weapon at the back of a battered Boston rotation.