The baseball season is a marathon, and the Angels may not have a finishing kick when they reach the playoffs:

Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs are out for the season. Matt Shoemaker has a strained oblique but believes he can be ready for the playoffs. If he is not, Santiago would be in line to start Game 3 of the division series.

That would be the same Santiago who got three outs in his start on Friday, who got six outs in his previous start, and whose earned-run average in September is 9.69. Santiago faced 10 batters and gave up seven runs Friday night, and the Texas Rangers piled on from there in a 12-3 rout of the Angels.

The Angels are talking about using Jered Weaver on short rest in the LDS.

On the other hand, the Angels are playing their best ball offensively in September, scoring 6.1 runs per game. Frankly, going into the 2014 season, it seemed if the Angels were going to win, it would be with the bats, not the arms. In other words, they have some leeway with the pitching staff, since the offense is capable of scoring a ton of runs. A high strikeout bullpen helps as well.