LA Angels: 3 reasons why the Angels should be optimistic

The 2021 season has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Mike Trout is on the shelf for at least another month with a calf alignment, the Angels’ $245M man (Anthony Rendon) is hitting .228 with 3 HRs, the Angels’ pitching ranks bottom five in the MLB in WAR, BB/9, HR/9 and ERA, the team is 5 games under .500 one-third of the way through the season (all stats in this article are as of June 2nd)… the list goes on and on. Naturally, a lot of these things are correlated.

Despite all of these negatives, shortfalls, and disappointments, there is plenty of reason for the Angels’ front office and fanbase to be optimistic. These 3 specifically give hope and reason to be excited for seasons to come, as well as the rest of this season…

#1 reason why the Angels should be optimistic: The 2019 Nationals’ season start

The Nationals 2019 season will always be remembered for their gritty postseason performance that led them to a 4-3 World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, what is often forgotten about that season is that same World Series roster got off to a 19-31 start 50 games into the season. By the end of June, they had corrected their record to 42-41, having gone on a scorching 23-10 run following that horrific start.

At 25-30, the Angels have plenty of season left to correct their early season miscues, and Trout’s return some time in late July/early August will be as good of a shot in the arm as any team could ask for. In addition, with how great of a player Rendon is, there is no reason to believe that he won’t have a tremendous summer and get his numbers back to what the baseball world is used to seeing. Finally, the starting staff has had some bad luck, ranking 3rd to last in BABIP (.307), meaning a lot more hit baseballs are falling into play than they should be for Angel opponents. 13 of the next 16 games come against the Mariners, Royals, Diamondbacks, and Tigers. All teams that have been scuffling this year and teams that provide the Angels with an opportunity to get back over .500.

#3 reason why the Angels should be optimistic: Shohei Ohtani is a legitimate MVP Candidate

Shohei Ohtani has always had gobs of talent. When he was first coming to the MLB from Japan, videos of him pumping 100 mph from the mound and blasting 450 foot moon shots in the same game gave MLB fans a whole excitement and awe that they have not experienced in many of their lifetimes. However, injuries have caused an inability to stay on the field for Ohtani. In 2021, he is finally healthy, and striking batters out left and right with his nasty splitter, and hitting bombs as one of the MLB’s HR leaders with 15. The Angels have Ohtani locked up through 2023, so health permitting, there should be many years to come where the Angels can enjoy Ohtani’s gaudy talents.

Hopefully the Angels can put the front office in a position in July to want to acquire pieces for a playoff push, rather than selling off a long list of to-be free agent players this upcoming offseason. The Halos haven’t performed up to expectation this season, but there’s almost two full months until the MLB trade deadline.

If they can hold on until then and then have a good deadline day, they’ll be right in the middle of playoff contention. There’s still reasons to be optimistic about this team.