The construction and mindset of Major League Baseball teams has changed since the implementation of the play-in wild-card game five years ago. More teams are in the mix. A club can hover around .500 for much of the season and still consider themselves playoff contenders. Front offices who realize their team is likely to compete in the play-in game can build their rosters to leverage themselves in the potential winner take-all match-up.

Some teams may be a pound for pound worse team than the team they are competing against, but may still have an advantage due to either a deep bullpen or ace starting pitcher that can shut down an opponent.

The Los Angeles Angels have such an advantage, and no, it's not Mike Trout. It's Garrett Richards.

The twenty-nine-year-old right-hander's career has been plagued by injuries. He has appeared in just 573 2/3 innings since 2013. He dealt with a knee injury in 2014, but more recently he has been dealing with on and off elbow issues.

Despite the injuries, one thing is for sure, Richards has been dominant when on the mound.

Richards has the 18th best fielding independent pitching since 2013 among those with over 500 innings pitched, just behind Yu Darvish and Jon Lester. His 54.4% ground ball rate over that same period ranks sixth in baseball. As a result, his home runs per nine innings is tied with Clayton Kershaw for best since 2013.

The only issue with Richards has been keeping himself on the mound. After coming out of his start on Opening Day after just 4 2/3 innings, he finally made his return exactly five months later on September 5.

As of September 21, the Angels sit 1 1/2 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot. If they can somehow leapfrog the Twins and make it into that play-in game for a likely matchup with the New York Yankees, they are as setup as anyone.

Richards is scheduled to make two more regular season starts and should line up to pitch in the playoff game. The Yankees have their own ace is Luis Severino, who would be a potential Cy Young candidate if it weren't for the historic seasons of Corey Kluber and Chris Sale, but the Angel's ace has been just as dominant.

Although an extremely small sample size, Richards has been worth over half a win in just 18 innings this year. He has a 2.38 FIP with a 2.00 ERA. If it wasn't for Richards' ace-like pedigree it could be seen as a blip on the radar, but it seems obvious he is healthy and pitching at an extremely high level.

For better or for worse, if the Angels can sneak into that playoff game, they are going to be rewarded for getting Richards healthy before playoff time. However, they are going to finish with a much worse record and run differential than whoever they face, whether it be the Yankees or potentially the Red Sox.

The Angels are a different team when he is on the mound. Starting pitching has been their biggest weakness this season. Their offense has been solid with the 3/4 of a season from Trout, the emergence of Andrelton Simmons offensively, and the addition of Justin Upton. Their bullpen has quietly been one of the best in baseball.

In a winner-take-all game, there may be no stronger team in baseball as long as Richards is on the mound. Outside of injury reports, you didn't hear his name much at all this season. If the Angels pull off the comeback, you will be hearing the name Garrett Richards a lot more come October.