Los Angeles Angels: Could Success Once Again Be Brewing In Anaheim?

As a fresh season of baseball hovers over the horizon, with the sounds and smells of America’s favourite pastime soon to move from the sunlit fields of Spring Training to the colosseums of the Major Leagues, it will be ten years since one of the game’s greatest was inducted into the sport - Mike Trout. Since the supernatural centerfielder’s arrival into the Angels organisation a decade ago, the Anaheim-based franchise have made the playoffs on a mere single occasion - a crushing 3-0 series sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS of 2014. As for Trout, he has been crowned American League MVP in three separate seasons. A rather heroic feat considering his team have finished with a season record below .500 for the past five years.

Angels’ followers will have grown weary of hearing the same cliché of ‘this could be our year’ bombard their brains for an exceptional length of time but, with a renewed feeling of optimism blowing in from the Pacific, the blueprints for success may be closer to completion than one believes. They have a sparkling new shortstop - Jose Iglesias - who has impressed not purely this Spring, but for a significant chunk of his nine-year tenure in the Majors. They have improved their outfield, too, as the evergreen Dexter Fowler travelled from St. Louis, ‘the Gateway to the West’, to, rather fittingly, the West. The Angels have been intelligent, if not a smidgen bold with their offseason additions who join a roster unequivocally stacked with talent.

We have mentioned Trout, the highly-talented, future Hall of Famer who has slashed a tantalisingly impressive .304/.418/.582 in a career in which he has established himself as one of the finest all-round talents in the sport. Now, at the still sprightly age of 29, the eight-time All-Star prepares for his tenth full year with an Angels franchise who have not tasted World Series success since 2002. He must feel a tad optimistic, having signed a mammoth 12-year, $426.5 million extension two years ago, slotting in at number two on the list of highest annual salaries baseball has to offer. Only $40 million-a-year-pitcher Trevor Bauer tops that. As ridiculous and remarkable as Trout’s endless statistics are, the vast, gaping holes on his reśumé remain. Could it mar one of the great careers? Quite possibly, for Trout has never played in a World Series. Never come close, for that matter. For you see, he is yet to even win a playoff game.

This is not all about Trout, though. Accompanying him on the field for the past decade is the ageless Albert Pujols, a man who has the fifth-highest number of home runs in the history of baseball, and he is not quite ready to wave the flag of retirement just yet. Yes, at 41 years of age he is the oldest player currently active on an MLB roster, but don't let that fool you. His performances may have taken a slight dip over recent years but he remains a threat to any pitcher on the mound. Experience is crucial, but an accurate blend of youth and maturity can go a long way.

Step in, Shohei Ohtani, the ‘two-way phenom’ from Japan who is starting to settle into life in the City of Angels. He bats well, he pitches arguably better. Although the sample size has been undeniably small following his bout of Tommy John Surgery that ruled him out for the entire 2019 season, the capacity for success is vast. Hailed as one of baseball’s most promising prospects upon his arrival into California, the pressure was fierce. Life has been a seething cauldron of frustration ever since, unable to fully portray his ability. Once both elements of his game click, however, it should be a sight to behold. Combine a healthy Ohtani with current starting pitcher, Dylan Bundy, and the pitching should improve, too. Bundy enters the new campaign off the back of his strongest season to date (in an albeit shortened season), in which he surrendered a mere five home runs over 65.2 innings - a superb return from that of the year prior.

With further enhanced bolstering of the roster shown through the acquisitions of starting pitchers Jose Quintana and Alex Cobb, plus a new closer in Raisel Iglesias, it reinforces the strive for progression that was once promised to Trout ahead of his renewed long-term commitment a couple of years ago. Following what has felt like a decade of regression, it should come as a refreshing alternative to the mediocrity that has plagued the Angels organisation for years.

“The vision is definitely there,” Trout said of newly appointed GM Perry Minasian. “The energy is there. I like what he’s doing.”

Joe Maddon, current Angels manager, has expressed in the past how much of a ‘sin’ it would be for Trout to miss out on a World Series title. Maddon, a deeply experienced coach who returned to Anaheim just prior to the 2020 season, will know the feeling of ending championship droughts greater than anyone, having managed the Chicago Cubs when the long-suffering franchise ended their (in)famous World Series drought of 108 years back in 2016. What we have, then, is arguably the most improved Angels roster since their previous trip to the playoffs in 2014, now coached by a two-time World Series champion, who will continue to have one of the best in the game roaming centre-field. There greatest threat, however, lies but a mere 31 miles North-west in the Elysian Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles - The LA Dodgers.

Three of the previous four World Series have featured the Los Angeles Dodgers, with their name firmly engraved into the most recent title of 2020. They boast a roster like no other, and they boast depth like no other. They are a sizzling hot saucepan of water that is yet to reach its boiling point. The name Trevor Bauer that was mentioned earlier is in fact the newest addition to an already potent pitching rotation. Competition in baseball has never been so rife, with eye-catching, multi-million dollar contracts thrown around like popcorn in a microwave.

This is the reason the Angels have not been able to compete. It appears as if they threw all their eggs into literally one basket. Now, though, the future does seem brighter, and the ever-distant light at the end of the long, gloomy tunnel appears closer. It is unlikely to be an immediate impact, but the Angels are certainly heading in the right direction. The first step (of many), is to finish with a positive record and slowly, but surely, continue on this trend so they can finally present their star-studded outfielder with the silverware he so dearly deserves.