Heading into Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Angels are 29-25. They'd be out in the cold yet again from the playoffs, if they started today, despite having one of the greatest players in baseball history in the middle of his prime. As noted earlier Tuesday by my colleague Mike Axisa, we're getting to the point of the season when we can see which teams are real and which aren't. The Angels are on pace for 87 wins. That's good, but not great. The Angels could be better, too. How? 

By getting better support for their stars from the supporting cast. 

There's a feature on the excellent Baseball Reference website where you can sort wins above average by position. Here's where the Angels rank by position: 

C: 10th
1B: 24th
2B: 23rd
3B: 24th
SS: 1st
LF: 5th
CF: 1st
RF: 30th
DH: 2nd

Pitching-wise, they are roughly the middle of the pack. 

This club is totally being held up by less than a handful of players in Mike Trout (who remains underappreciated), Andrelton Simmons (who remains wildly underrated), Shohei Ohtani (nearly 1 WAR both as a pitcher and as a hitter) and Justin Upton -- and to a lesser extent, Martin Maldanado's impeccable defensive work behind the plate. 

Those guys couldn't really be playing much better, though Trout continuing to improve is rather amazing. Where the Angels need to get better is elsewhere and it's just a matter of their guys needing to play better. 

Albert Pujols is probably just giving all he has left, so we need to look elsewhere. How about Ian Kinsler, Zack Cozart and Kole Calhoun? 

Kinsler is 36 and started the season injured, but he's just two years removed from a .288/.348/.484 season with 28 home runs. In 40 games this year, he's been worth negative-WAR as he's it .179/.249/.263. This is unacceptable. 

Cozart was an All-Star last season, hitting .297/.385/.548 with 24 doubles, seven triples and 24 homers. So far this year, he's hitting .232/.313/.395. He should get better, though there's reason for worry here. Cozart was a career .246/.289/.385 hitter before last season. If that was his outlier, he'll continue hitting like he is now. 

Calhoun came into the season a career .261/.330/.426 hitter. He averaged 20 home runs a season in the previous four years. This year, he's at .153/.201/.190 with just one homer. He's 30 years old, so he shouldn't be cooked. He swings lefty, so if he needs to be platooned, there's Chris Young -- who is hitting .161/.277/.304. He's 34, but two years removed from slashing .276/.352/.498 in part-time duty for the Red Sox. 

Utility man Luis Valbuena has been terrible (.220/.268/.326) as well. 

The Angels have a supporting cast of position players who have been good in the very recent past. In order for them to get to the playoffs, they're likely going to need more help for their stars from the likes of Kinsler, Cozart, Calhoun, Young and Valbuena. 

If not, they'll likely be watching October yet again while Trout makes another run at individual hardware.