Last year the Angels were trying to climb back into the race in June when Trout played five games in four days in Seattle, including playing both ends of a doubleheader in center field. ![]() ![]() They flew from Southern California to Cleveland on Wednesday night, even though the series begins on Friday.Īn east-to-west cross-country flight was also a part of the back injury Trout suffered last year, but there were other factors involved in that one. Even though there is a built-in off day when teams fly East, a few years ago the Angels began flying an extra day early to mitigate the impact of the travel. Major League rules mandate that a team has a day off anytime it flies from the Pacific time zone to the Eastern time zone, but not the other direction. The Angels’ upcoming trip ends in Baltimore on May 18 and they have a home game the following day, so Trout is likely to be off for the first game of that homestand on May 19. That’s why one of Trout’s three off days this year was on April 21, the first game of a homestand after the Angels played the day before in New York. The injury was at first expected to sideline him for about two months, but he missed the rest of the season. Trout suffered his calf injury in that game. In 2021, the Angels played in Boston on May 16 and then played at home the next night. “If you look in the past, long flights across the country and playing the next day don’t do well for me,” Trout said. Nevin said there are a few things he looks for to determine when Trout needs a day off, but there is one scenario that will always raise a red flag. “Down the stretch, you want to be there every day,” he said. Trout’s days off are always a hot topic among Angels fans who, naturally, want to see the 10-time All-Star in the lineup every day when he’s healthy. If I didn’t have the injuries I have had in the past, it would be a different story, but freak things happen. In order to try to avoid a similar fate this season, the Angels have a plan for giving him a few more scheduled days off, and Trout, 31, said he’s come to grips with the fact that it is the best solution. One of the reasons the Angels have failed to meet expectations lately is that they’ve played too many games without their three-time American League MVP, who suffered a calf injury in 2021 and a back injury in 2022. Instead of being all (ticked) off that I’m not in the lineup, I take the day and move on to the next.” “I still do, when (Manager Phil Nevin) says I have a day off, I give him some crap, but he’s strong with his reasoning and I trust him. “I used to fight it, big time,” the Angels superstar said. After crossing into his 30s and spending significant chunks of the past two seasons on the injured list, Mike Trout has come around on the value of a day off.
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