The Dodgers and Angels are playing a spring training game on Thursday in a battle of California teams and each come in with high expectations for the 2014 season and the matchup will be streaming from MLB.com starting up at 3:05 pm ET.
The Dodgers are coming back after their disappointing playoffs performance against the St. Louis Cardinals and they have their stacked team back with names like Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez with Clayton Kershaw pitching, while the Angels are looking to get back to their former glory with names like Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton leading the way.
The Dodgers come into the game after a win against the Cincinnati Reds and they are gearing up to start the season down under in Australia and that will be a two game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team then will return and open the season officially with everyone else the following week, as they will host Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and that will be against the San Diego Padres. That game comes before Opening Day on Monday after that game and Kershaw will be the one to start.
The Dodgers are coming into the game after a win against the Reds and they next play against the Texas Rangers and this year comes after the team ranked in the top 10 in both on base and batting average last season. The pitching was stellar and is expected to be again, as they ranked in the top five in batting average allowed and the team was second in the league in ERA and seventh in quality starts as well.
The Angels come into the game after a loss against the Giants and they next play the Chicago Cubs on the schedule. The team had a tough season and it wasn't for lack of offense, as they ranked in the top 10 in runs, batting average, on base and slugging percentage, ranking seventh in the league in runs scored overall. The pitching was the issue and they finished 24th in ERA and that is what they will try to fix this season.
