When you are a die hard fan of a baseball team, the season becomes part of your daily life. Day after day the game is on TV or the radio, perhaps on Gameday while you’re at work. And then there are the days you spend at the ballpark, enjoying a night outside with family and friends. Every January it feels like the season will never get here and every September it feels like it can’t possibly already be over.
Playoffs will occupy our time for a few weeks. Angels fans are accustomed to spending August mainly rooting against the Dodgers and Astros while hoping the under dogs can pull off upsets. And we dream of a time when we can root for our Angels in October again.
There are only 3 more gamethreads scheduled for 2025. The same number of home games. As Mike Scioscia would say, it is time to “turn the page” on the 2025 Angels.
What will this season be known for? Well, our Highlight of the Week, of course.
Every one of those 400 home runs came in an Angels uniform. Trout is ours in a way that is uncommon in modern baseball. The video montage of milestones they show before Angels games features players who accomplished most of their statistics elsewhere. Mike Trout and Tim Salmon did all of their damage here.
After making history, Mike took to social media and sent a classy thank you.
Trout is no longer an MVP candidate. He is no longer the MVP of the Angels (thank you, Zach Neto), but he did play in over 125 games and is still an above average MLB hitter. For the first time in years I could wear my Trout jersey to the Big A and see him in the lineup. My son also saw him blast a couple of home runs live and can now see why Trout is one of my all time favorite players.
In addition to his on field greatness, Trout has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award for community service several times. I see this as the ultimate award in baseball. Changing lives is more important than hitting dingers. Logan O’Hoppe is this year’s recipient of the Angels Roberto Clemente Award nomination.
This is the best video I’ve ever linked here. I’ve read an interview with Logan in which he said he wishes the Angels cameras wouldn’t follow him to the hospital. And I know from a little team connection that he routinely arranges to meet kids and their families without media around.
Here is the complete list of the 2025 Roberto Clemente Award nominees. Every one of these guys deserves our respect and each one has already won a donation to a charitable cause of their choosing.
I was at the ballpark on Wednesday night to see Taylor Ward crack a new career high in home runs. Ward is also a good guy and I enjoy watching him play.
Apparently, I’m far from the only one who considers Ward to be a good guy.
Yusei Kikuchi pitched a gem on Wednesday night until finger cramping got the best of him. He’s happy with his 2025 results and looking forward to 2 more years as an Angel. 178.1 innings of 3.99 ERA pitching is a good deal for the Angels, and it has been a while since we’ve been able to say that about a free agent signing.
Yes, I realize I’m posting a lot of positive things today but I’m also a realist. Life is hard, the world is crazy, and the Angels are my little oasis among the chaos.
The fact of the matter is the Angels will miss the playoff for the 11th consecutive season. Why? Culprit #1 is team strikeouts.
We’re #1! We’re #1. Hold on, that’s not a good statistical category to lead. The Angels have struck out enough to essentially go 0 for 58 games and 8 innings. Give it this last homestand and the team will have likely given up 60 full games of 27 offensive outs simply by striking out.
Yes, even some good teams are on the top 5 list. But consider the Angels have still struck out 161 times more than the Yankees, basically 6 complete games worth of hitters.
Where does this put the team all time? As of Thursday afternoon, we are 8th. But with a normal night we should be in 5th by the time you read this.
Unbelievably, the 2023 Mariners had a winning record that year going 88-74. And congratulations to the 2025 Mariners for knocking the Houston Astros off the top of the AL West perch. They clinched their first division title in 24 years on Wednesday night.
Cal Raleigh hit home runs 59 and 60 in that victory over the Rockies, further kicking up the AL MVP discussions among pundits. All that talk and digital ink when we all know the award will go to a Yankee if it is even close (and I think Judge deserves it).
Looking at the length of this post, I should probably tell you a couple things: 1. I had some green tea this morning. 2. I don’t usually do caffeine and am pretty sensitive to it. So you might want to grab yourself some more coffee.
Geraldo Perdomo is the best player in baseball that nobody is talking about. The kid has put the Diamondbacks on his back the last couple of months and is leading all NL position players in WAR.
His play is a huge reason the Diamondbacks are still in the hunt for a Wild Card on the final weekend of the season.
Those standings are as of Thursday afternoon. The Reds won today and both the Mets and Snakes play later. I’d love to see the Mets falter. Arizona wraps up the Dodgers series tonight then heads to San Diego, so that’s a tough road. The Mets finish against the Cubs tonight then head to South Beach for three. Cincy heads to Milwaukee to face a tough Brewers team that has already clinched their division.
Playoffs start with 4 games on Tuesday and I will have gamethreads set up for each day.
The most fascinating story in baseball is Cleveland, who seemingly can’t lose right now. They’ve won 18 of 21 games to overtake the cratering Detroit Tigers.
A big story out of the Cleveland/Detroit series this wee was David Fry taking a 99 MPH fastball to the nose on a failed bunt attempt/foul tip. That video is too gnarly to link. What is important is that David is OK and Tarik is a class guy. He rode with Guardians manager Steven Voigt to check on Fry at the hospital.
I think that’s enough fun for one day. Time to use the rest of this caffeine kick to call the heck out of some leads and find some business. Might crack off some more pushups and go play catch with my son as well.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. My wife is catering a wedding this weekend so my job is to keep the boy occupied and the two of us out of her way. I’m not sure what all hijinks will be had, but don’t be surprised if you see us getting helmet sundaes at the Big A on Sunday.
