A home and home series to determine whether the White Sox set an all time MLB futility record or the Angels set a franchise futility record kicked off this week and it was a nail biter. A resounding White Sox win on Monday night was followed by a solid Angels win on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the clubs proved just how close they are to each other in a 13 inning affair won on a Jordyn Adams walk off single.
So that’s one game each and one game decided by the thinnest of margins. We’re not the White Sox, but we aren’t too far away from them, either.
Sliding into home plate in that clip above is local boy made good Eric Wagaman. I love late season call ups and getting to watch guys finally fulfill their MLB dreams. I was in the stands when lifelong Angels fan got his first career knock. The fact it was off Justin Verlander made it even sweeter. Small sample size and all, but Wagaman has been solid in his short time in the bigs.
Also looking really nice in limited MLB time is Jack “Silent C” Kochanowicz, who extended his run of impressive outings on Wednesday. He should get a few more starts at the big league level but so far he’s clearly punching a ticket to big league camp in Tempe next season.
And Silent C might have some decent competition in Tempe. Newly acquired George Klassen racked up an impressive 2024 campaign and is pegged as the Angels Breakout Prospect for 2025.
And will those guys have competition from Jose Suarez? Dude couldn’t look more fixed if he walked out of a vasectomy clinic.
Klassen isn’t the only first round pick pitcher from the Midwest in the Angels organization. Sam Bachman has been on the mend this season but did complete his bachelor’s degree over the winter. I saw him pitch a AAA game in Sacramento last month and while his velocity was down, particularly early in the game, his command looked better from my seat. Bachman’s numbers in AAA are not good and his velocity is still down, but I did find this interesting tidbit while looking him up.
In case you’re wondering about the state of the Angels minor league teams, well not much has changed since we were last at every level except AA.
Salt Lake is destined to finish in last place.
Rocket City has a losing record but will finish ahead of what must be a God-awful Reds affiliate.
Tri City finished dead last in the Northwest League.
Our local boys in Rancho Cucamonga are the highlight of the farm, finishing the year with a record of 65-65. Edit: Nope, our Inland Empire 66ers finished in last place.
Once again I feel like Dean Wormer reading the grade point averages to the Deltas.
To avoid ending on a bad note, take a look at first round pick Christian Moore.
And one more reminder that Zach Neto is a stud.
From around baseball:
Congratulations to the NL Central champions Milwaukee Brewers. Seeing 90 year old Bub Uecker celebrate with Jackson Chourio was a joy. I’d love to see Bob’s Brew Crew win the whole thing just once in his life.
The Orioles couldn’t fix Craig Kimbrel and had to cut him loose.
Jose Altuve had one of the most bizarre ejections in MLB history. Sadly, the miniature cheater was in the right.
While it hurts to see this in a blue uniform, Shohei Ohtani is a brilliant baseball player and the history he made yesterday is incredible.
Not only did he hit the 50/50 mark he had one of the greatest individual games in MLB history. Considering this was the first game he played with a chance to reach the post season, it makes you wonder what could have been had the Angels built a decent team around him.
All that said I hope Ohtani and crew get swept in the first round of the playoffs again.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. My son turned 7 this week and we will spend Saturday celebrating him. I swear ages 4 to 7 went by in about a month. We’re taking Fall Ball off and will hit the diamond again next Spring. For those of you returning to the field, enjoy.
Been quite a day already. By game time, everyone should be ready to go. One negative is that our team is so bad we have to talk about players on other teams to have interesting and spirited conversation. I’m very interested to see if anything changes in the off season.
I think for next year, it’s pretty much what you see is what you get but I would feel better if they at least released Rendon and acquired a real 3B. I see an OF next year of Ward (if he’s not traded over the winter), Adams, and Adell, with Mickey next in line. Schanuel and Adell will get another year. At this point, it’s hard to see any improvement other than pitching for the foreseeable future.
Why am getting email from Angels about special lunch at stadium with Chuck Finley? Oh, you need to purchase tickets at $177. What a joke, is Arte hard up to raise money with this crap.??
They didn’t pay guys back then like they do now, help the old timer out lol
Chuck made $65M, not as much as now, but he’s doing alright.
Poverty wages smh
I know he plays golf and has lunch with Arte at
Pelican Hill.
Ohtani last night: Like watching your ex-wife, who deep down you still love, even though she left your ass, win an Oscar. “Nice job, Cindy. Happy for you.”
I’ve been married once, still am, so I think about this in terms of ex-girlfriends, thus “depends which one”
Congrats to that guy who used to work here
I once saw (in person) Vlad Guerrero get 9 RBI vs the Red Sox. Then I also saw Garret Anderson get 10 RBI vs the Yankees. Both were franchise records at the time.
Y’know, I seen me a mermaid once. I even seen me a shark eat an octopus. But I ain’t never seen no phantom Russian submarine.
Well I seen a horse fly
I seen a dragon fly
I seen a house fly
But I’ve been, done, seen about everything
When I see a elephant fly
😆
Probably requires psychedelics.
Arte give me the ring, please? One ring only.
Since when did we move our Single A team back to Rancho Cucamonga from the IE?
Since never
its in the works – there’s a new stadium coming to Ontario so the doyers get that, we go to RC and then Mariners go to SB
clear pecking order
What a bone headed mistake on my part.
In that case, we finished in dead last in the Cal League as well.
Cucamonga is just where we would rather watch the 66ers, during away games.
The irony is you have to be really old to notice the joke that the RC stadium is on the corner of Rochester and Jack Benny Drive.
😆
left off the discussion so far, of Ohtani’s game, is that the 6th hit, the 3rd HR, the 8th, 9th, an 10th RBIs came off the equivalent of a Miguel Sano pitch. Would a 2 HR, 2 SB, 7 RBI, 5 for 6 (or 5 for 5) be as impressive?
Of course not but still very impressive.
right, but not “the greatest game ever”
Who?
I applaud the Marlins for not pitching around Ohtani.
Many players face a “Miguel Sano” pitcher and don’t hit HRs. Ohtani did what great hitters do: punish mistakes.
Whatever the calculus, he did something that no players has ever done before: 50 SBs and 50 HRs. He still has 9 games remaining and can build on that total.
Are you proposing a 60/60?
I really think Roberts will give him a few games off now that they’ve clinched and the record is set. He won’t hit 60…
Seriously, if stolen bases were a thing in the 50’s/60’s, Mays would have been the first. Say Hey Kid!
I looked up Mays and agree. He hit 50+ HRs twice, led the league in SBs a few times. I was wondering about Maury Wills who stole 104 in 1962. The next highest in the NL stole 32 so it was just Wills who was running like that. Wills won MVP because they didn’t have WAR. Wills was at 6.0, Mays 10.5
Twins SS Zoilo Versalles won in 1965 as a 5.3 win offensive player.
Didn’t Sano pitch for us this year? Has any other position player pitched for two or more teams in a season?
TA vs the serial complainer for the cheaters tonight…could be a low scoring affair.
All this fuss about Sho is taking away from the important stuff,
is Jose Suarez fixed?
Yes, until opening day 2025…then all bets are off.
He’s only fixed if he got a vasectomy. Baseball-wise, I don’t believe it.
f-cked up haha, nice
😂😂😂
Ok then, No he still will find a way to suck. And F Astros. Go Halo
I’m hoping the Mariners can be eliminated quickly so I can get back to hoping the Astros implode.
Screw JeDi. I hope he does not survive and the fodder about him being retained is pure smoke job
Not sure. You’d have to ask his wife.
Saurez has been lights out in September, but the rest of the season was really bad. I’d like to believe he turned a corner, but we’ve been down this road before.
I’m jk lol. Tried to bring some levity to the day.
Not trying to ruin your day either. Saurez is someone I thought should have been more successful but suffered from poor coaching. I’d like to think Barry and crew have “fixed” him and if his last three games are any indication, they might have.
I honestly believe Perry & Barry are building a strong pipeline of pitching.
Very optimistic about the org’s pitching development
I agree. I hope they figure out how to do the same thing with hitting.
I’m starting to feel that way as well. I’m outlining an early off season State of the Franchise type piece. Well, it will need to be several pieces.
Pitching for next year looks like: Soriano, Anderson, Detmers, Silent C, Klassen, Silseth, Aldegheri, Dana, Davis Daniel.
Not a huge amount of upside there, but enough possibilities to have a decent rotation.
Pitching better than bats……..
Fuck the Dodgers. I go to Angels games, listen on the radio occasionally and when the Halos are awful I don’t watch any MLB on TV except for the playoffs when the dodgers are facing elimination. Definitely a unique fandom I wouldn’t expect anyone here to duplicate. That said, there really needs to be better moderation on here. The community is shrinking, not growing.
Nothing draws a community together like hating on another community.
That said, I do not understand, directing that hate towards Ohtani and his unbelievable accomplishments
Arte is the antichrist!
The ArteChrist
Ooh, I like it.
Noice
I also really only watch the Dodgers when they are on the brink of elimination.
For the $10 these guys get per year to write for this site I think they do a great job!!
I agree, I’ve never said a bad word about our mastheads, for you to insinuate I do/did is Busch league. We can moderate ourselves in a better way than below. What are we at, 12 users who come on here and comment daily? Maybe that’s the way those 12 like it.
Jeff, great job with the links, again! Happy Birthdat to your son!
Thank you for both.
How about improving infrastructure before players? We need to run and operate like a elite level college FB and BB program instead of trying to be the Dodgers.
No, that could take years and cost millions of lives.
What we need is: No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!
Look at the infrastructure for Dodgers minor leaguers: Tablets for every player, sports nutritionists at every level, individual bedrooms so guys get sleep.
I’d prefer to start emulating the Dodgers in those ways so we can develop talent.
I’d love this. It would help with IFAs. Sure, the top 15 or so are just going to who ever pays them the most, but when you’re competing with seven other teams to sign the #38 ranked guy this stuff maters. And having a system full of IFAs that are an average rank of #20 instead of #70 is actually a big deal.
Dude, 🫠there you go again with FA signings, do the TB Rays do this, NO THEY DON’T! Last year they won 98 games. So what are they doing THaT wE dOn’T?
Exactly. This is why no matter who the Angels draft or how much potential there might be – this team is going nowhere as long as Arte is around.
Ya’ll really gonna let the uniform he wears stop you from enjoying the greatest player that ever lived.
Everything Ohtani does adds fuel to the hatred I have for Arte Moreno.
I’ll never root for the Dodgers but I’m going continue rooting for Ohtani. He’s the greatest player I’ve ever watched playing baseball. That was Mike Trout up until about 4 years ago.
Right on.
No, but it does fuel my contempt for the worst owner and most pathetic GM in baseball.
💯
It’s easy to root against him now that he’s wearing blue. I couldn’t care less about his records now.
I have been a lifelong Halo fan (since the late 70’s and a Padre fan as well since the late 80’s.
There is zero reason for me to root for an ex-Angel. I have never done it before, so I’m not going to start now.
Not even just as a fan of the game? So in 50 years you can tell your grandkids you saw these feats with your own eyes?
The best example I can come up with is that I don’t follow the exploits of any of my exes. Now that they are my exes, I don’t care what they’re doing on social media or with other people I know.
I move on and look to the future. I feel that is healthier.
“You can’t assess the future if you’re living in the past.”
– Greg Graffin
If your exes had the functional equivalent of a 50/50 season or went 6 for 6 with 10 RBIs and 3 HR in a game – you’d pay attention.
Sounds like a personal problem.
One wife for 35 years and we are still madly in love. So nope.
As I said, I believe that it’s healthier to move on. I have a friend that keeps getting worked up about the former Angel’s accomplishments. I sent him this picture and he finally got it.
Exactly.
Half the population can replace your ex. There’s only one Shohei.
Amen! Long live Heandog!
Could have been a hall of famer if he just shaved the stache.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, cause a lot of us here are Angel fans over being an Ohtani fan. Like if Kobe ditched the Lakers and went to Boston for his 81 point game, would LA celebrate it? Yes respect the guys greatness as a player. But as an Angel fan it’s easy to see it’s all about the Dodgers now. Haven’t gotten any text today from blue fans? Like ‘he did 50/50 for us never you’ or Ohtani never played 100% for Angels cause he knew they were horrible’. Gets old, and unfortunately now our greatest player is another way to haze Angel faithful.
👆🏻
Plenty would have followed him around the league same way LeBron has had, and same way Ohtani now has.
Lol, I like it. You must be young, some of us older folk have witnessed some of the most bitter sports rivals in history. Bird vs Magic, Yanks vs Sox, Jordan vs Pistons.. Hey wait, I hate watching NBA.
Yeah those days are long gone. Sports rivals aren’t the same anymore and the NBA will never again be like it was pre-2000. Players today care more about money above all else. There is no team loyalty. Rules aren’t the same anymore either. That’s why I don’t even bother watching Lakers games and probably won’t again until LeBron retires.
Yeah, soon I’ll be dis many.
🙄
I’m sorry professional sports are a little different than 40 years ago, grandpa.
Yes!!
He left under different circumstances but I followed and rooted for Nolan Ryan after he left.
Yes and no.
I think over time I’ll get over it. It just sucks that he went there of all places. I’d root for him more if he was a Yankee. And that’s bad.
He’s incredible and we’ll never see another one but I just can’t tune into Dodgers game night after night to watch him.
Gotta say, Jeff. I’m surprised to hear you have that opinion.
You’re entitled to it, of course. Just surprised.
I think the Angels have their own 50|50 guys next year………
50 Games Played for Trout
50 Games Played for Rendon
That’s how I see it. 🙂
No way Rendon reaches 50 games.
Definitely an over under thing.
Put me in big on the under.
Rendon will be playing for the Atlanta Braves next season and will win the NL Triple Crown.
It’s inevitable.
I see you are high on hopium
Its going to be an interesting IIWPM this winter. I wonder what the parameters will be? Any additional spending? Whats our salary limit?
Additional spending is on access to the trade simulator.
Can we pool our resources and have a single log in for CtPG memebrs? Username: Artemustgo?
Pw: Troutstayshealthy?
They want $25 per year. It is not going to break the bank but it does rankle a bit. I don’t use the thing year round.
It’s gonna be fun watching people try to do these without “Here’s the Top 5 Free Agent I want!”. People will have to actually figure out what a true 8M a year starter or 11M a year OF is and then decide who they would get the most out of for that.
We almost saw the shufflebot last night. The White Sox series will be our last chance
Some very toxic comments today. Not the best bit of reading down below to start my day? Very good article and worth the read of that though, so thank you. 👍🏻
Thank you,
We are the remnants of what was defined by Olbermann (?) as a “cesspool”….
Shohei is incredible. We were lucky to have him.
So unlike some (a lot of) people here, I’m no Shohei Ohtani hater, but I really have to say that 50-50 doesn’t seem as impossibly difficult as it once did with the new bases. It’s not just him. Everyone is stealing more because that incredibly minor difference in distance MATTERS in a game like this. Acuña, Elly, Ohtani, etc. are all putting up crazy steal numbers and it all feels watered down. Even Zach Neto didn’t come that far away from 30-30 and people up and down the league who never stole before are now in on it. There is no denying that Ohtani is a speedster, but I really don’t feel as mystified by the 40-40 club as I used to, even if 50-50 is still wild.
I have to wonder what Billy Hamilton could have done in a single season with basepaths like these.
On the other hand, I respect catcher arms sooooo much more than before.
I agree with what you said but I don’t think it’s just the bases though. The limit on throws to first probably also has an impact as does the fact that offense and run scoring are generally depressed this year and when run scoring goes down, the value of any individual run goes up so stolen bases go up as well. It’s remarkable that Ohtani has only been thrown out 4 times. Acuna’s year last year was also quite remarkable.
Billy might have got to 75 – 80 SBs when he was in peak form with the Reds. He was a superb runner.
In his career Billy had a total of 24 HRs. There’s no way he levels up to be the hitter Ohtani is.
Before factoring his pitching ability, the total skills Ohtani displays at the plate are what separates him from 99.9% of the hitters that have played the game.
I assumed Rick was talking about the Great Billy Hamilton of the 1890s who stole 111 bases in a 138 game schedule. A .344 lifetime average, .455 on-base percentage.
Ah – my bad, thanks for the clarification.
I got confused, too. Looked up Hamilton and the Reds player popped up.
The Reds Billy Hamilton could have easily stolen that many if the rules allowed him to steal first base. Batting average was his downfall, but that cat was the fastest runner that I witnessed in person.
Not just the bases, but the “Two throwdowns only” rule as well.
Wow Jeff, you woke up on fire this morning with the links. Thank you and wonderful job. One of my grandsons turns 7 as well today.
Watch yourselves out there this morning and stay off the lawn. It’s rough out there.
Just a note: As great as this season has been for Ohtani, he currently sports a 181 OPS+. Mike Trout’s career OPS+ is 173.
Not likely to happen, but I would love for Trout to have normal Trout years the next 3 seasons and reinsert himself back into relevance.
Have a great day and weekend everyone.
Thanks.
Happy birthday to your little dude.
Indeed!!!
That’s just how I look.
That’s my hat! Very cool. You made my day.
Great article. I am not a Doyer fan, but I understand why you included the information.
I appreciate your writing, as well as the other contributors here.
Thanks.
I love the old school blue hats and uniforms. This was in our photo library so I snagged it for today’s piece.
That’s a ’90s hat. The old school hats didn’t have the halo on the A, but on the top of the cap.