CtPG Predictions for the 2023 Season

The 2023 Angels kick off the regular season tomorrow. There will be plenty of new faces on Opening Day and likely even more as the season progresses. Has Angels GM Perry Minasian done enough to get the Angels back to postseason baseball? And will any Angels win awards?

Let’s see what the staff here at Crashing the Pearly Gates has to say.

How many games will the Angels win in 2023?

Jeff Joiner: Between my normal Spring optimism and firm belief the Trash Pandas bullpen of 2022 makes noise at the MLB level in 2023, I’m going to say 88 wins. Plus they are going to ride Ohtani hard in his last year under contract.

Rev Halofan: 162-0

Charles Sutton: 86-76

Jessica: This is really tough this year. The Angels rotation has some huge upside potential and depth has been added. Question marks exist on the left side of the infield though and beyond Trout, Ward, and Trout in the outfield, do we really have depth in the grass? Bullpen to me is still a bit of an unknown as well. I’m going with 87 wins because I’m a sucker and like being butter-cupped.

John Henry Weitzel: 79. Fool me once, shame on you… I want to believe, but this team keeps letting me down year after year. Sure, they may be in it in August this time instead of May, but I expect to have something go wrong yet again.

Will the Angels make the playoffs in 2023?

JJ: Tough. I think we’re right on the brink. At some point, we should get something to break our way. I’ll say yes. As a wild card.

RevHF: Yes.

Charles Sutton: Yes.

Jessica: I’m giving them a 65% change of taking a wildcard spot.

JHW: No. Prove me wrong, please.

Will an Angel win MVP? If so, which one?

JJ: The MVP has gone from Mike Trout’s to lose to Ohtani’s to lose. Really remarkable for one franchise. With no restrictions on Ohtani, I say he wins the MVP this year.

RevHF: Taylor Ward will be your 2023 American League MVP

Charles Sutton: No.

Jessica: Yes. Ohtani is only getting better. Unless someone hits 60 home runs again (unlikely) or gets the Triple Crown, I think he’s poised to take the MVP home again.

JHW: Mike Trout is hungry again after that WBC and will want to one up Ohtani. He will be my pick.

Will an Angel receive Rookie of the Year votes?

JJ: I can see O’Hoppe and Ben Joyce getting some down ballot votes this year.

RevHF: O’Hoppe should.

Charles Sutton: O’Hoppe

Jessica: O’Hoppe should be in the running but really depends on how much he plays. That hinged on when Stassi comes back and what the Angels decide to do with Thaiss who is out of options. Best case is O’Hoppe rakes in April and makes them keep him on the roster all year.

JHW: Logan will get a few but not be in the top 5.

Will an Angel win Comeback Player of the Year?

JJ: Both Anthony Rendon and David Fletcher are obvious candidates here. But let’s not forget Griffin Canning who missed last year and is pitching well. I don’t see either winning it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one did.

RevHF: This is Anthony Rendon’s to lose.

Charles Sutton: No.

Jessica: I want to say Anthony Rendon here but Angels, so I’ll so – no one does.

JHW: There aren’t as many candidates this season for AL, so Rendon has a shot if he plays like it is 2019. Big IF though, but I would lean towards DeGrom getting it.

Who plays shortstop the most often for the 2023 Angels?

JJ: I’m going to say Fletcher. Range is more important than ever without the shift and David has the best glove. If his legs are under him and he can produce a 90ish wRC+ he’s the best all around option.

RevHF: Luis Rengifo

Charles Sutton: Luis Rengifo

Jessica: Gio Urshela. Will be hard to keep him out of the lineup if he’s hitting and if Rendon is hitting, SS seems like the best spot to stash Urshela despite him being an average at best SS.

JHW: Gio, he is the Opening Day SS, so Phil seems to prefer offense there. Late in game he may not be, but he will get the most starts.

Who closes the most games for the Angels in 2023?

JJ: The easy call is Esteves, but he could be the high leverage guy and allow a lesser arm to pitch a clean 9th. I’ll still go with Esteves, but not confidently.

RevHF: Ben Joyce

Charles Sutton: Jimmy Herget

Jessica: Carlos Estévez

JHW: Quijada. He has the emotional explosiveness as seen in the WBC that he will get the nod the most.

Are the Angels buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?

JJ: Ohtani is the grandest prize in all of baseball and the Angels have plenty of guys like Renfroe, Tepera, and Loup who are on their last year. However, I think the team is in it at the deadline and adds a piece.

RevHF: Buyers and Adell in AAA will go somewhere.

Charles Sutton: Buyers (bullpen)

Jessica: Buyers. They have to be if they want to keep Ohtani and Arte has made it clear he’s not being traded. I think they will be within striking distance at least in July which will also make them buyers.

JHW: Buyers, as Arte will convince Perry to go all in and Perry will convince Arte to spend money. Since they are stuck together for the long term, they need to to keep Ohtani interested in returning.

Who are your division winners and Wild Card teams?

JJ: Astros, Guardians, Yankees, Padres, Cardinals, Phillies to win the division. Angels, Mariners, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Braves, Mets as Wild Cards.

RevHF: Green Bay in the Central, Rams in the West, Cowboys in the East and Falcons in the South. Jets in the AFC East with Rodgers, KC of course, Jacksonville will take an underwhelming South with a record under .500 and the Bengals make it boring in the Central.

Charles Sutton: I don’t know.

Jessica: Blue Jays, Twins, Astros. Braves, Cards, Padres. Wild card? Dunno, it’s wild!

JHW: Houston, Rays, Twins, Dodgers, Cards, Mets, with Yankees, Blue Jays, Guardians, Braves, Padres, Phillies as WC.

Which two teams play in the Fall Classic and who wins?

JJ: The Padres and Astros are the most stacked teams in the league. But crazy stuff happens in October. I’ll go with the Padres vs. the Blue Jays with SD finally getting a ring.

RevHF: Angels sweep the Pads, c’mon ask me something hard.

Charles Sutton: Houston beats the Phillies in five.

Jessica: Padres beat the Astros.

JHW: Mets over Blue Jays in 6

40 Comments
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DaveChalk
Trusted Member
11 months ago

84 wins. No wild card. Loup and Tepera cause antacid sales to rise among CtPG members and ample writing material for CtPG staffers.

red floyd
Legend
11 months ago

After last night? My prediction is 0-162

Cowboy26
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  red floyd

6-14 . bank it.

max
Trusted Member
max
11 months ago

83-78 rainout not made up

tanana40
Super Member
11 months ago

How many games will the Angels win in 2023?

87 wins

The team is better than last year. I am not as worried about the bullpen as others. Spring performance does not equate to regular season performance.

Will the Angels make the playoffs in 2023?

Yes, wild card.

Will an Angel win MVP? If so, which one?

No.

Will an Angel receive Rookie of the Year votes?

Yes, O’Hoppe but he won’t win it.

Will an Angel win Comeback Player of the Year?

Yes, Anthony Rendon.

Who plays shortstop the most often for the 2023 Angels?

I am not sure that Fletcher can stay healthy enough to play the most games at SS.
So I will go with Urshela.

Who closes the most games for the Angels in 2023?

Esteves.

Are the Angels buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?

Buyers as they are going all out this year to win.

Who are your division winners and Wild Card teams?

Astros, Guardians, Yanks, Padres, Cards, Mets to win the divisions.
Wild cards: Angels, Blue Jays, Mariners, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies

Which two teams play in the Fall Classic and who wins?
Padres beat the Astros.
JJ: The Padres and Astro

Do the Angels Sign Ohtani?

No, I fear that Ohtani has already decided to leave. There were no negotiations this spring it appears and according to Moreno. Perhaps a World Series win would keep him here but that is going to be difficult.

Brent
Super Member
11 months ago

How many games will the Angels win in 2023?
More than last season

Will the Angels make the playoffs in 2023?
No

Will an Angel win MVP? If so, which one?
No

Will an Angel receive Rookie of the Year votes?
votes? Sure. Win it…. eh

Will an Angel win Comeback Player of the Year?
No

Who plays shortstop the most often for the 2023 Angels?
Rengifo

Who closes the most games for the Angels in 2023?
Herget

Are the Angels buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?
Buyers

Who are your division winners and Wild Card teams?
Don’t care about the other teams to look it up

Which two teams play in the Fall Classic and who wins?
Padres and someone else, the someone else team wins.

I hope I’m wrong on the playoff portions.

MikeSalmon
Super Member
11 months ago

68-94, as I explained in another thread.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago

comment image
Stop will yuh….. 😆 
Actually TB has figured out how to win without any big name players (at least during the regular season that is, until the playoffs start). But I’ll take that every time over 7 straight losing seasons.

Twebur
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

“Now, you know what they say about hopes, they’re what we cling to when reality has left us nothing else.”

-John Malkovich

Eat a stick of butter and suck on a penny.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  Twebur

Hey waitah minute!!!
I picked them to do better than Downing Dude did………whut gives?

gitchogritchoffmypettis
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

Here are the ground rules for an IIWPM.

Just thought maybe you’d need them so you could get one in before game time and actually validate some of your opinions rather than just queefing random “challenging thoughts” at us for another season.

Wanna know why just about everyone you rail against is better than you? Cause they have actually had to put out a plan and see if it works…. for better or worse. Better a strait forward failure than a loud coward. You can do it big guy. emoji emoji.

DowningDude
Legend
11 months ago

72-90 and no emojis nor headshots

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  DowningDude

Whutgoodizitthenn?
Adddkarektirtewyorkoments! 😍 

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago

80-82
That’s if they stay injury free!
 💪  💪  💪  💪  💪 
 💪  💪  💪  💪  💪 

Twebur
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

Aren’t you positive…👊👊 Carful now, an extra 4 game winning streak or two and that prediction becomes a playoff contender..then what?

FungoAle
Super Member
11 months ago

I’m with Steelgolf and ChuckyChili…90 wins. Perry will make an in-season trade build up the pen and add a real 4th OF.

gitchogritchoffmypettis
Legend
11 months ago

I was gonna try to actually make intelligent guesses at this stuff…. then I realized that that’s pretty impossible, which is why most people just kind of poop out a wish list for this stuff, and that wish is usually “what I have been saying for weeks is right“. I have been mostly spouting foolish hyperbole for weeks so I guess I’ll go with that….

My Predictions
Angels Record – 96-66: Yes, that’s high. I’ll just say that if the Angels fire on all cylinders most of the time, the depth works, and our health is solid this is our top end performance and I think we’re due for a year like this. So let’s do that.

Can I show proof of how this will happen? No stupid, I can’t. That’s why it’s “best case”.

Playoff Team – Yes, but probably wildcard.

MVP – Nope. Not an Angel. They REALLY want Vlad Guerrero Jr’s defensively useless ass to win, so if he’s any good he will.

Rookie of The Year – O’Hoppe will get a ton of votes if his OPS is over .680. Why? His personality and defense and Ohtani. May not win, but he can get some hype.

Come Back Player – Rendon. He’s a name. I also think he’ll be pretty dang good.

Most Games At Shortstop – Rengifo, but I think it will be around 80 games.

Closer – Estevez. I think he’ll be middle of the pack as a closer and I think we’ll have at least 2 other pitchers with 5 saves. We will complain endlessly about this.

Trade Deadline – We will be buyers if we have holes from injury or a pitcher breaks down.

Division Winners – AL Astros, Blue Jays, White Sox & NL Padres, Cardinals, Braves

WildCard – AL Angels, Indians, Mariners & NL D-Backs, Dodgers, Mets

World Series – One rich team, one lucky team. I’ll just guess Astros Vs Padres.

Winner – Billionaires. Boo friggin hoo.

I think that the NL is ripe for an upstart team, like the D-Bags, or a lopsided team like the Brewers, to make the WC. Teams like the Mets, Doyers and Phillies are dependent on a lot of stuff that can blow up. Then there is heavy disparity. I think if a newly good team can feast on teams like the NL Central bottom 3, the Marlins, Rockies, Giants, Nationals…. it can make a team that has improved to an 81 win team into a 90 game winner.

I think the Rays smoke and mirrors show slows down a little. I think the Orioles compete.

I think the Angels will have a top 5 offense and a top 15 pitching staff, maybe even top 10. I think that Trout/Ohtani/Ward/Renfroe/Rendon/Walsh will make for a murderous row that overwhelms a lot of teams and we win some “blowpen” games this way where we used to lose them.

Patrick Sandoval will break out. I think both he and Detmers will join Ohtani as top 50 starters.

We will eventually not keep him because we will have extended Ohtani. This is a stupid move, but at least this stupid move keeps I guy I like around.

Rengifo will be a 4 WAR player. We will also lose him down the line because Ohtani. Same with Ward.

Our bullpen gets bolstered by rookies. I think Davidson, Canning, etc combine to make for a “6th starter” with a league average ERA+ and that’s cool.

Our farm will be middle of the pack at the end of the year. Why? Because our MLB team is getting positive attention.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago

Tucker Davisun will go 35-0
Trout leads MLB in assists
Tepura will save 70
Joc Pedersen will be released by 8 teams

gitchogritchoffmypettis
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

Tucky D!!! Super Bowl MVP.

Eric_in_Portland
Legend
11 months ago

79-83

Fangraphs says our budget has gone from $180mil to $213 mil, an increase of $33mil. Ohtani’s salary, I see on Spotrac, has gone from $5.5mil to $30mil, an increase of $24.5mil. The difference, then, in additional player salaries from 2022 is $8.5mil which is what we’re paying Drury.

So our big change from 2022 is adding Drury. I mean, the individual parts have changed. We have Estevez instead of Raisel, Urshela instead of Wade, Phillips instead of Marsh.

But, overall, the big money splash was giving Shohei lots of money. The overall effect of the spending is minor in terms of personnel.

Our bullpen is a disaster. I have little faith in Estevez, Moore, Quijada, and Loup. I have moderate faith in Tepera and Barria. The rotation should be good except for Davidson.

I am appalled at the decisions to keep Moore, Davidson, and Phillips on the roster. Those decisions had been made pre-Spring Training and nothing was going to stop Perry from having them up here.

The offense looks good which is why I think we’ll win as many as 79. We are, however, a couple of injuries away from being worse than last year.

Other than that I like this team!

gitchogritchoffmypettis
Legend
11 months ago

Yes, but if we just pay Ohtani 55M next year the team will be completely different, payroll will be higher, so much commitment champihams, all the problems melt.

RexFregosi
Super Member
11 months ago

minor questions in the big scheme – need another one for the BIG QUESTION
i’m already eliminated here lol

will Shohei resign? yes in March December 14
will be be traded? No
if so when?
to who?

My Predictions
Angels Record – 92-70
Playoff Team – Yes
MVP – Trout
Rookie of The Year – no votes – too early for Neto, O’Hoppe doesnt hit enough
Come Back Player – Rendon
Most Games At Shortstop – Fletcher
Closer – Estevez
Trade Deadline – Buyers
Division Winners – AL Astros, Blue Jays, Guardians & NL Padres, Cardinals, Phillies
WildCard – AL Angels, Yankees, Rays & NL Mets, Dodgers, Braves
World Series – Mets vs. Angels
Winner – Angels 4 to 2

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  RexFregosi

comment image

Fansince1971
Legend
11 months ago

87-75 if they stay relatively healthy (no extended injuries from key players) and a wildcard.

If they have any significant injuries- below .500.

Last edited 11 months ago by Fansince1971
2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Same to you as rex

halofansince1978
Super Member
11 months ago

We’re a .500 club until the bulpen proves itself or gets better.

The most important question is missing…do we extend Ohtani?

steelgolf
Super Member
11 months ago

I’m going to go with 90-72. I think they will win between 88 to 92 games because of starting pitching and depth/bats brought in. It’s going to click for them to FINALLY make the postseason.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  steelgolf

Same to you as Rex and fan71

gitchogritchoffmypettis
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

Where’s that IIWPM beef cloud? Times almost up.

Dogface1956
Trusted Member
11 months ago

Predictions:

Angels Record – 89-73
Playoff Team – Yes
MVP – Trout
Rookie of The Year – None this year, but 2024 will have two O’Hoppe & Neto
Come Back Player – Rendon
Most Games At Shortstop – Rengifo
Closer – Herget
Trade Deadline – Buyers
Division Winners – AL Astros, Blue Jays, Guardians & NL Dodgers, Brewers, Mets
WildCard – AL Angels, Yankees, Rangers & NL Phillies, Padres, Braves
World Series – Padres vs. Angels
Winner – Padres 4 to 3

Cowboy26
Legend
11 months ago

93-69 baby.

WallyChuckChili
Legend
11 months ago

90 Wins!

Twebur
Legend
11 months ago

I see your 90 wins and raise you 1 one…91 wins!!
Are my sources correct
Are my sources correct
Yes I know they’re correct

https://youtu.be/5lTVohhONFg

WallyChuckChili
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  Twebur

comment image

Angelz4ever
Super Member
11 months ago
Reply to  Twebur

Booo, I dropped that Sparks reference in an earlier post in the last week….

Twebur
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  Angelz4ever

I missed that…now you’re giving me “Angst in My Post”.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
11 months ago
Reply to  Twebur

Browns win Super Bowl
 😂  💪 

DowningDude
Legend
11 months ago
Reply to  2002heaven

Dewey defeats Truman