The Angels struck a potentially big trade for their playoff chances, acquiring power-hitting outfielder Justin Upton from the Tigers, the team announced.

The Angels entered Thursday just one game out of the second AL wild card spot. Further, Thursday marked the final day that a team could complete a waiver trade and still include the acquired player on the playoff roster, so this move came in just under the gun. 

Upton, 30, is in the midst of one of the best seasons in his career. He's hitting .279/.362/.542 with 37 doubles, 28 homers, 94 RBI and 10 stolen bases. The 136 OPS+ is the highest he's been since back in 2011, when he finished fourth in NL MVP voting for the Diamondbacks. 

It'll be interesting to see how Angels manager Mike Scioscia decides to slot Upton in the batting order. Mike Trout surely stays in the two-hole and Scioscia has seemed content to leave Albert Pujols third. Pujols still has power and has driven home lots of runs, but he's hitting .232/.278/.387 (78 OPS+) on the season. It seems that the best use of Upton would be to hit him third and go with Pujols as the cleanup man, since the Angels have said they love his ability to drive in runs. 

As far as who gets squeezed out of the lineup? It's Cameron Maybin, who the team let go to the Astros on waivers Thursday.

C.J. Cron has been on fire in the second half and he plays first base, meaning Pujols has to keep the DH spot. In right field, there's Kole Calhoun and he's the better player with a better track record. 

As for the Tigers' side of the Upton trade, Long is a 6-foot-5 right-hander who was the Angels' third-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2015. He's 8-8 with a 2.69 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 125 strikeouts in 133 2/3 innings across High-A and Double-A this season. 

This is clearly a "go for it" move by the Angels and it carries some future salary risk. Upton is due $88.5 million over the next four seasons through 2021. The Angels already have huge down-the-road commitments to Pujols and Trout while Andrelton Simmons' deal through 2020 is back-loaded. The three will combine to make $78.1 million in 2020, for example. However, Upton has an opt-out clause after this season. It seems likely he'll opt out, but the Angels are risking that he'll decide to stay put. That would mean the Angels would have over $100 million committed to four players already for 2020. 

It's a risk right now they are willing to take and should be commended for doing so.