The Angels return to Anaheim this weekend following a stunningly successful road trip. They won seven games in a row and finished 8-2, sweeping the Dodgers and the A’s. In what is turning out to be a very winnable AL West, the offense, paced by Taylor Ward, Logan O’Hoppe, and Zach Neto, finally woke up and pulled away from the pack. Although there is a lot of hope, they will play their first home game against Miami, their 50th of the season, and they will play the Yankees at the one-third mark (54 games), which is as good a time as any to speculate about the team’s future and the potential impact of this recent winning streak, if any, on the remainder of the season.
The Detroit Tigers, a team that was in a similar situation just a year ago, should provide as an encouragement to the Angels.
The Tigers and the Angels have the longest playoff skid in baseball going into 2024. Both clubs were swept in their divisional series and didn’t make it to the postseason since 2014. With a 23-27 record at the 50-game mark in 2024, the Tigers were in fourth place in the AL Central, just behind the 24-25 Angels.
The Tigers never played like a club that was trying to win the ALDS, and they ended up losing to Cleveland in five games, finishing the season 86-76, earning a wildcard place, and sweeping the Astros in the wildcard series.
At the trade deadline, they sold, sending seven prospects in exchange for Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, Andrew Chafin, and Carson Kelly. As of right now, they have the best record in baseball and are five games ahead of the AL Central.
The 2025 Angels squad must select a choice that will ultimately be a battle between the executive office’s professed drive to win, the fans’ desperate want to return to the postseason, and the present roster’s position. The 2024 Tigers’ roster may seem eerily familiar, with youthful talents settling into the pros, veterans trying to recover from injuries, and elderly journeymen acquired mostly for depth. However, they did have Tarik Skubal on his way to winning the Cy youthful Award. Despite being near.500 at the middle of the season, they replenished their farm. Although their second-half surge was undoubtedly nice, it was mostly incidental to their longer-term strategy to develop their youthful core for 2025.
The Angels this season should be careful not to get carried away by their recent success and instead consider their current situation and their ceiling. Even if this streak has been entertaining, does it truly invite us to relive 2023? In an attempt to avoid paying the luxury tax before the conclusion of the season, the Angels threw everything on the line to get Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout into the postseason that year. However, they collapsed in August and ultimately waived what seemed like half the team. Despite how welcomed they have been in their short time under the Halo, they have components this year that they could and should try to trade.
With the exception of his disappointing performance in Sacramento, Tyler Anderson has been the Angels’ best starter. However, he is in the last year of his deal and has a tendency to deteriorate as seasons go. It’s still conceivable that the Dodgers may bring him back to play some innings while their rotation recovers. Yoán Moncada has quietly taken full advantage of his show-me contract, securing the Angels’ long-suffering third base spot. A contender should be attracted to a switch-hitter who plays strong defense.
Maybe the rise continues. Maybe, in a week, the Angels will look up after sweeping the Marlins and Yankees, find themselves within a stone’s throw of leading the division, and decide this really is the year they fulfill Ron Washington’s pledge to “run down the West.” Or perhaps, without ever referring to it as such, they are still rebuilding, and this year’s postseason play is just a bonus and a sign of even bigger things to come.
