There doesn't appear to be many Angels in the outfield in Los Angeles these days.

Since the All-Star break, the Angels have a losing record and have thus surrendered their lead in the American League West to the Houston Astros.

One of the biggest reasons the Astros haven't been very strong in August is because of Mike Trout's slump. Trout is batting just .169 this month with one home run. It's obvious that wrist injury is still having lingering effects on the reigning MVP. Many fans believe that Toronto Blue Jays infielder Josh Donaldson has overtaken Trout in the AL MVP race.

The Angels are now 63-57, three wins behind the Astros in the AL West. The Angels sit in the second wild card spot behind the Blue Jays at the moment, but are half a game ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. If the season were to end today, the Angels and Blue Jays would play each other in a one game playoff in the wild card round.

The Angels offense has dropped to 17th in runs scored in the league, even behind the Oakland Athletics. Regardless of a struggling offense and an injured Trout, the Angels still control their playoff destiny, and they have won their last three consecutive games. The Angels are just one win away from sweeping the Chicago White Sox at home. After that comes an extremely critical three game series against the Blue Jays, which will be played in California.

Dominican great Albert Pujols is tied with Trout for the team lead in home runs with 33.

It doesn't look like the Orioles will be repeating as American League East champions, as the New York Yankees sit atop that division with a 67-52 record. The hard-hitting Orioles rank fourth in home runs hit this season much in part thanks to Chris Davis' 34 home runs. Dominican third baseman Manny Machado has a team-leading .300 batting average this year, but the Orioles have been terrible on the road. The Orioles are 37-21 playing at home, but a putrid 25-36 on the road, which is even worse the Blue Jays.

The Orioles are 2-4 against the Angels this season, so they have a little bit more ground to cover.

The Orioles have won five of their last six games after defeating the New York Mets on Wednesday night. The Mets recently swept the Athletics, and will be facing the Minnesota Twins next in a four game series. The Orioles don't have a 10-win pitcher yet this year, but they still rank 12th overall in team ERA. Pitchers Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez and Ubaldo Jimenez all have nine wins each wins this season for the Orioles.

The Texas Rangers have been making a run, and now sit just one game behind the Orioles in the AL standings. The Rangers are two wins behind the Angels for the final wild card spot.

AL Standings

1. Kansas City Royals: 73-46
2. New York Yankees: 67-52
3: Houston Astros: 66-55

Wild Card

4. Toronto Blue Jays: 66-55
5 Los Angeles Angels: 63-57
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6. Baltimore Orioles: 62-57
7. Texas Rangers: 61-58

Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter @DamonSalvadore1