It is not an exaggeration to say that these next 11 days is one of the most important periods of time in the history of the Los Angeles Angels franchise. If they can add on to their current four-game winning streak and climb up the American league Wild Card standings, they can justifiably avoid trading Shohei Ohtani. Though, Lady Luck seems dead set on making this stretch as stressful as possible.

With news breaking that Anthony Rendon will be shut down for an additional two weeks (shin injury), manager Phil Nevin was also forced to scratch Zach Neto from his lineup ahead of Saturdays game vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates. The rookie shortstop, who recently returned after missing a month with an oblique strain, is dealing with lower back tightness, per MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger. Nevin said he could be out the rest of the series.

The Angels can hardly afford to be without one of their better talents for even a day right now. Admittedly, that is a lot of pressure to put on a player who spent less than a year in the minor leagues before being called up to the MLB roster. But there is simply no time to spare.

Considering he was thrown into the fire, Neto has taken to short relatively quickly and is swinging a competent bat. The 22-year-old's average has gone down after a slumping July, but he has flashed enough promise for fans to believe he is a part of the club's future.

But is Shohei Ohtani? That questions becomes harder to answer after untimely setbacks such as these.