None of that changes what's happening in the standings. Milwaukee sits comfortably in first with the best record in the league at 68-41, while Los Angeles is tied for the worst record in baseball at 42-68 and staring down an 11th straight losing season. The Angels have dropped four of their last five, including Friday's series opener, and interim GM Mozeliak inherited a roster that looks more like a scrap-heap sale than a contender.
Milwaukee's lineup has had its moments of chaos lately — an 11-2 laugher over Colorado sandwiched around a 3-16 embarrassment in San Francisco — but the talent gap here is real. The Brewers have dealt with rotation attrition of their own, with Brandon Woodruff done for the year after shoulder surgery and Quinn Priester out for months, but they've got enough pitching depth to steamroll a last-place club missing four regulars to injury or rehab.
The Angels aren't without pulse — Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are reportedly trending toward returning to the rotation later this month, which would be the first real reinforcement this staff has seen all year. But that help isn't walking through the door Sunday, and until it does, Los Angeles is trotting out a lineup and pen thinned by injuries to Yoan Moncada, Anthony Rendon and Robert Stephenson, among others.
For a Brewers club with a division locked up and October on the mind, this is exactly the kind of series you take care of business in and move on. For the Angels, it's another Sunday in a season that's really about August 3rd and what's left of the roster after it.