6 biggest issues that led to Angels' horrendous run differential early on in 2025

The Los Angeles Angels have been one of baseball's most pesky teams so far this season. Projected to be one of the worst teams in baseball, the Halos just won't go away, and sit just a few games out of the final American League Wild Card spot.

At the same time, the Angels have been allergic to getting over the .500 hump since April, reaching the plateau numerous times throughout the year just to fall backwards. A big reason why is the Angels' negative run differential, which is below the likes of the pitiful Pittsburgh Pirates and many, many other teams.

While that may make it seem as if the team is far worse than their record would indicate, there's a lot more than meets the eye. A confluence of factors has led the club to this point, and understanding them sheds further light on where this team truly is.

6 reasons why the Angels have posted a terrible run differential in 2025

A boom or bust offensive attack

Through July 6, the Angels rank fifth in all of baseball with 128 home runs. At the same time, they rank 26th in on-base percentage at .297, 28th in batting average, hitting .228 as a team, and just 13th in slugging, indicating that the club isn't generating much in the way of extra base hits other than the long ball.

The Halos have put together incredible offensive outbursts like the April 10 matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays, when the team accounted for half of all the home runs hit on that day. On the flip side, they've also gone through some frigid offensive droughts.

At the end of the day, the Angels have put on an impressive power display, but a lack of consistency getting on base and making consistent contact has put them in a position where most of their damage is via the home run, and the vast majority of dingers are solo shots. That makes it awfully difficult to continuously string runs together and consistently outscore more well-rounded opponents.

A bullpen with a fatal flaw

For much of the season, the Angels' bullpen ranked dead last in the majors in ERA. A lot of shuffling has gone on, and there have been improvements of late, but the Halos' relief corps still ranks towards the bottom of the league, coming in 27th with a 5.06 ERA.

The overwhelming reason for their struggles has been their obscene propensity to cough up homers. The unit ranks dead last in the majors with 1.47 HR/9 allowed, and it's not particularly close. The next worst teams, the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks, have each surrendered homers at a much more manageable 1.26 HR/9 clip.

There is some good news, though. Since June 1, the Angels seemingly have fixed the issues that have plagued their pen. Since that date, the club ranks seventh in the bigs with a 3.24 ERA and 18th in HR/9 with a much more acceptable 1.11 mark. Should that continue through the second half, it would go a long way toward erasing the run differential gap.

A lineup that has never been consistently at full strength

Not once this entire season has the Angels' lineup been at full strength at the same time. Recently, they had a near-miss with star shortstop Zach Neto seemingly reinjuring his surgically-repaired shoulder, though luckily an MRI revealed no structural damage.

Still, Neto missed most of the first month of the year recovering from that offseason surgery, while other key components like Mike Trout and the struggling DH Jorge Soler have spent time on the IL. Perhaps the biggest culprit has been third baseman Yoan Moncada, whose .237/.336/.505 line has been critical to lengthen the lineup, but two separate IL stints have limited him to just 30 games this season.

The Angels' lineup might look more balanced if they could ever get all of the pieces back in place at the same time, but until that happens, this will be a unit with some serious holes that impact its ability to consistently score runs.

A tale of two starting rotations

Many scoffed when the Angels struck early in free agency, bringing in Yusei Kikuchi, a man who entered the season with a career 4.57 ERA, to be their ace. Yet, an ace is what he's been as the 34-year-old southpaw's stellar first half, headlined by a 2.81 ERA, has earned him an All-Star nod.

Behind him, sinkerballer Jose Soriano leads all qualified big league starters in groundball rate at an eye-popping 65.8%, paving the way for him to be a reliable number two with a 3.72 ERA on the season.

Those two at the top have done a great job suppressing runs, but in the back end things have gotten dicier. Tyler Anderson's progression this season has been downright concerning. He started off with a 2.67 ERA in the first month, which then rose to 4.28 in May, before ballooning to 6.93 in June.

At the back end, Kyle Hendricks (4.68 ERA) and Jack Kochanowicz (5.42 ERA) have been tagged far too many times to be relied upon. As a result, the Angels' run differential will likely swing dramatically depending on who starts the game on the mound.

A gaping hole at second base

The Angels' inability to find a competent second baseman has left them with a permanent hole in the lineup. Aside from a brief period of Kyren Paris mania at the beginning of the season, the cast of characters, including Tim Anderson, Scott Kingery, Chris Taylor, Kevin Newman, Chad Stevens, and others, have been wholly uninspiring.

Angels' second baseman have produced a stomach-turning .195/.268/.290 line so far this season. Their collective .558 OPS ranks dead last in the majors.

The promotion of top prospect Christian Moore was supposed to solve this issue, but a July 3 thumb injury landed him on the IL before he could ever truly get going.

Getting Moore back quickly, as he hopes, and having him produce up to his potential would go a long way to strengthening the lineup and fixing the Halos' run differential problems.

Consistently shoddy defense has given runs away

Lastly, the Halos' shoddy glove work has been a major hindrance to getting into the positive side of the ledger when it comes to run differential.

As a team, the Angels have posted -18 outs above average, which puts them in a three-way tie with the lowly White Sox and Nationals for second worst in the majors. Defensive runs saved doesn't think too highly of the Angels' performance either. The club has posted a -38 DRS in 89 games, ranking 29th, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies.

Unfortunately, this likely won't improve anytime soon. The Angels' roster is littered with poor defenders. The long wait might be finally over for Jo Adell's offensive breakout, but the newly minted star has been the club's worst defender by DRS with a -9 mark that has him ranked 11th worst in the league, regardless of position.

The Halos haven't helped themselves either. The club went out of their way to acquire LaMonte Wade Jr. from the Giants, adding another putrid -8 DRS to their defense.

Other culprits include Luis Rengifo, who is poor with the glove no matter where he plays, Nolan Schanuel, and the adventures of Jorge Soler in the outfield. Outside of Zach Neto, everyone else is average at best, and the metrics are even divided on Neto, with DRS liking him (five on the year) and OAA seeing things much differently (-6 so far this season).

Don't expect this to get much better in the second half, and unfortunately, these repeated miscues will continue to cause the Angels to bleed runs.