Well Los Angeles Sports fans, we are past the halfway point of the year. On this day, most of sports is relatively quiet with most leagues on a break (unless you’re the Chicago Sky of the WNBA…in which case you WISH you were on a break). So, it’s customary to see where all the LA teams stand or what they’re up to as we look forward to the second half of the year.
ANGEL CITY FC
Things look kind of bleak for our local women’s soccer team as they sit in 11th place on the NWSL table. They’ve been on a break and will resume play in August. Their last match saw them play way too conservatively against the 1st place Kansas City Current. The problem is that Angel City is not scoring nearly enough goals to make up for their horrendous defense and the number of goals allowed. Right now they have a goal differential of -4, which explains why they’re near the back of the pack. This team needs some serious retooling before they’re considered a contender, because this is humiliating and embarrassing for an LA based team.
LAFC
Speaking of embarrassing, that brings us to men’s soccer. Why do I say embarrassing? Because LAFC had a miserable showing in the FIFA Club World Cup. They failed to advance out of group play, and didn’t even SCORE! I wish I could say that’s where the bad news stops, but news broke yesterday that defender Aaron Long is done for the year after rupturing his left Achilles. However, there is still some good news: they sit in 6th place in the Western Conference which is good enough for the MLS Cup Playoffs. They’ll just need to shake off the upsetting performance of the Club World Cup, and their remaining players need to hold the line or step up.
LA GALAXY
Well for those that thought it can’t get any worse than the performance of Angel City and LAFC, I direct your attention to the supposed reigning MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy. The following is not a typo: they are in dead last. I’m not calling them the worst team in the MLS (that would be CF Montreal), but this is just sad for a defending champion to not even put up a proper title defense. Why is this happening? Well, I explained in an earlier article that the LA Galaxy made moves that would be best described as “win now mode” and it did let them win last year. However, that left the cupboard completely bare for this year, and now they’re paying the price. But, all is not completely lost. The Galaxy have avoided losing in 5 of their last 6 matches. I’m not saying it’s going to turn the season around, but there is a tiny bit of life in the champs.
LA KINGS
Moving on to hockey, the goal for the Kings this offseason was clear: find a way beyond the first round of the playoffs. One solution is obvious: avoid the Edmonton Oilers, but that’s not feasible. The other solution is to retool the roster, which is usually more work. New Kings GM Ken Holland used the King’s cap space to buy in bulk, adding five players to reinforce their bottom-six forward group, their defensive options, and a backup goalie (which is necessary since the new collective bargaining agreement between the players and NHL established a permanent emergency goalie). Now the Kings still have about $6.7 million in cap space to work with, although some question why Holland let defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov go and sign with the New York Rangers. It will be an interesting first season for Holland as the Kings GM. Because he knows their fan base won’t stand for five years of getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
ANAHEIM DUCKS
It’s time to take a quick visit down the freeway from Los Angeles to nearby Anaheim. We visit the Ducks…and boy have they been busy. Gone are longtime goalie John Gibson and forward Trevor Zegras. What the Ducks got for them in return though has given them plenty to build around the growing talent of their young core group of players. It’s also given them around $28 million in cap space to work with. After years of languishing near the bottom, the Ducks look ready to finally emerge from the wilderness and back to the top of the NHL. Look out LA Kings fans, the Kings and Ducks rivalry looks ready to be reignited.
LA SPARKS
Moving from the hockey rink to the basketball court, the Sparks are half-way done with their season. If they could improve anything…it would be to make most of the first half of the season go away. Yes, they’ve won as many games as they did all last year, but that’s not enough. Kelsey Plum has been as advertised, and it’s because of her that the Sparks have gotten this far. Along with Dearica Hamby, the two have been keeping the Sparks afloat. There is reason for optimism, the Sparks finally won two in a row thanks to their win Tuesday for the first time this season. There is also word that Cameron Brink, last year’s top draft pick for the Sparks, will be back sometime around the end of July. People don’t understand just how valuable Brink is to the Sparks. When she was healthy last year, she made a serious run at Caitlin Clark for Rookie of the Year. If Brink can come back, the Sparks’ chances might go from none to slim.
LA CLIPPERS
On the men’s side of basketball, there’s good news and bad news for the Clippers. The good news is that the Clippers beat out their cross-town rivals, the Lakers, for free agent center Brook Lopez. Their center corps with Lopez and Zubac seems set. Here’s the bad news: Lopez, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and the rest of their core have one thing in common…they’re all in their 30s. Not everyone can be LeBron James or Tom Brady and play into their 40s. That being said, we have to wonder if the Clippers’ core group is too old to move the Clippers further into the playoffs than the first round.
LA LAKERS
There are a lot of questions for the Lakers. The first will be if LeBron still has it and what the team will look like in the first full year of the Luka Doncic era. It stung to see their little brother, the Clippers (who just moved out of the house, as it were), beat them out in the sweepstakes for Lopez. Still, Deandre Ayton is a swell consolation prize. The question will be if the Lakers can improve their defense. Maybe Ayton isn’t the long term solution, but it can’t hurt. Plus, we won’t see the real effects of the new ownership until after next season. The Lakers’ time in the wilderness may be ending very soon.
LA RAMS
From the basketball court to the football field, we see the LA Rams gearing up during the NFL offseason to position themselves as spoilers for the Philadelphia Eagles’ hopes to repeat. The Rams made quite a few big moves. They kept Matthew Stafford, they replaced Cooper Kupp with Davante Adams, and they got a first round pick from the Atlanta Falcons. The trade with the Falcons is significant because if the Falcons flame out (which is not out of the realm of possibility), the Rams get a high draft pick in next year’s draft. The Rams look geared up for both now and the future, as they look forward for another shot at the Eagles. (Note: it should be noted that the Rams were the only team that gave the Eagles any problems during their Super Bowl run last season.)
LA CHARGERS
Over to the other SoFi resident, the Chargers are looking to finally overtake the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. I argue they got some big help drafting Omarion Hampton in the first round of this year’s draft. Now, some “experts” aren’t big at drafting running backs this high in the modern draft, but I argue for them to swallow their pride. A running back is essential for taking the pressure off your quarterback. And with not very much improvement at the lines on either side of the ball, the Chargers NEED to find a way to keep star Justin Herbert safe. While I wish they had improved more at wide receiver, Herbert’s ability should not be hampered too much as we enter year two of the Harbaugh era.
LA ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
As we finish our sports tour at the baseball diamond, we once again go down the freeway to the ANAHEIM Angels (still stupid to call them the LA Angels of Anaheim…). So where are the Angels at? Surprisingly, not as bad as you think. They sit 45-47 as we start the second half of the MLB season. Stranger things have happened, and at least the Angels have their lone All-Star representative, Yusei Kikuchi, to lean on. Over 107 innings, Kikuchi has registered a 3.02 ERA, a respectable mark for this point in the season. Of course, they had people scratching their heads with the No. 2 pick of this year’s draft, opting for savings in the form of Tyler Bremner. We know that the owner of the Angels is a cheapskate but come on man.
LA DODGERS
We finish this article with taking a look at the one LA based team best situated to win a championship: the defending World Series Champion Dodgers. The Dodgers looked really good heading into the All-Star Break. Then came the losing streak…getting swept by the Houston Astros and the Milwaukee Brewers had many “experts” downgrading the Dodgers’ chances. However, now is NOT the time to hit the panic button. Yes, many of their pitchers are hurt, and yes Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not have a good outing against the Brewers. However, pause your concerns for a few reasons. Our players are slowly getting healthier, Shohei Ohtani is still the best player in baseball, and we got future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw silently having one of the best seasons he’s had in a while. Remember Dodger fans, we don’t need everyone healthy and ready right this second…we need them healthy in October. So, sorry to the “experts”, but like a good Stevie Nicks song…the Dodgers are NOT going away any time soon.
