LA Angels DIY Thursday Links

My first experiences with baseball were with Cal League games as a kid – back when I was growing up in the San Joaquin and there were affiliates in Visalia, Fresno, Bakersfield and Modesto. I followed a few California MLB teams indiscriminately back then, including the Angels, but my passion was more around farm clubs.

I lost my excitement for baseball during the steroids-and-strikes decade of the 90s, and only turned into MLB broadcasts again near Y2K, when I owned an old car with only an AM radio, and had daily long SoCal commutes. First few years, I listened to mostly Padres and Angels games, because I wanted to focus on underdogs. Three years into that, the Angels won the WS.

I’ve only attended Angels ST a couple times, given the distance. And I honestly only watch the Angels games once or twice a week, and more via radio than TV. But I do tend to tune into a minor league or college game almost daily, and watch a lot of video across prospect media (been a longtime subscriber of MiLB.TV and several publications – BA, D1baseball, Prospects Live). Not just Angels farm games, but also a bit of Padres and Dodgers, and select collegiate and farm games with interesting pitcher matchups.

But yeah, my engagement with the Angels is mostly bottoms-up, definitely the past 10-15 years.