Los Angeles Angels fans are sure to be feeling a bit anxious as they watch their club navigate through this late-May stretch. After all, this is when last year's postseason hopes disintegrated, as the 27-17 LA lost 14 straight games. The comments of general manager Perry Minasian probably will not help alleviate those fears.

The Angels (24-22) earned a Thursday afternoon road victory against the Baltimore Orioles, but before doing so surrendered the lead multiple times. In a sloppy fifth inning, they attempted to misguidedly throw a runner out at home on a sacrifice fly instead of trying to get the runner tagging from second base. Anthony Santander immediately tied the game with a home run that should not have been possible.

Minasian has noticed miscues like this too frequently and believes they are having a ripple effect on the entire pitching staff.

“Those are the things that are affecting that,” he told The Athletic's Sam Blum. “Mistakes early that cost the starter a couple extra hitters. A couple more pitches. It taxes our bullpen.”

Fielding errors and ill-advised judgment can wreak havoc on pitchers. A routine inning becomes a disaster really quick. That is common knowledge, but those type of issues are even more debilitating for a franchise whose culture is always under scrutiny. The Angels have not reached the postseason since 2014, despite having two of the best players in the game together for the last five years.

Those can no longer be legitimate concerns. Shohei Ohtani is in the final year of his contract and presumably wants to play for a team capable of competing for a World Series. LA has to show him that those ambitions can be realized right where he is. That begins on the mound. Though, only Ohtani (3.23 ERA) and Patrick Sandoval (3.22 ERA) have produced respectable numbers out of the starting rotation.

The team is tied for the most errors (31) in the MLB and have not saved many runs, either. If that persists, too much onus will be placed on the arms and bats.

”There’s been some mental mistakes over the first 45 games that I think have been uncharacteristic to the players we currently have,” Minasian said. “I’m expecting that to significantly improve.”

It better, or the Angels will squander another season and essentially push Shohei Ohtani right out the door.