Angels could turn a miserable season into the top prize in the 2027 MLB Draft

Rooting for your team to lose stinks, but at least there’s something to root for. And that’s been the reality for Los Angeles Angels fans for most of the year (and most of the last few). But waiting at the end of this slog of a season is a real prize on the other side. They are on track to be in the best position to land the number one pick in the 2027 MLB Draft.

No matter how bad the Angels were last year, they couldn’t get a top pick because they pay into revenue sharing, which means they cannot get a lottery pick in two consecutive seasons. Even though they haven’t finished over .500 since 2015, they’re still one of the sport's most valuable franchises, and that cost them last winter. A bottom-six record still only got them the 12th pick instead of a real shot at number one.

Why the ping-pong balls could actually bounce the Angels' way this time

But it’s only a one-year cool-off, not a permanent ban. A revenue-paying club simply can’t land a lottery pick in back-to-back years, and since they didn’t get one in 2026, they’re back with better odds than ever for 2027. With the White Sox, Giants, and Pirates ineligible for the same reasons the Angels were last year, the Angels have a real shot. All three of the worst teams are eligible in 2027.

Next year’s draft appears to be deep. Early mock drafts have guys like Dylan Seward, a high school shortstop; Brendan Lawson, a college shortstop; Tomas Valincius, a lefty out of Mississippi State; Landon Hairston, a bloodline outfielder from Arizona State; and Dax Whitney, a righty from Oregon State as the top five. There are plenty of top talents out there, assuming the Angels get to pick where their record indicates they should. It, of course, doesn’t always work that way, but this draft looks enticing.

Obviously we can’t know which team will land which player. We don’t know the draft order, and there’s a full season to play before these picks are made. But the same handful of names do keep coming up across basically every outlet’s early mocks, which says something about them. For a farm system that had a nice trade deadline, a top draft pick would do wonders to keep building. 

The current Angels’ front office has tipped its hand a bit on what it values in these spots. The thinking behind the team’s early Mason Edwards projection in July leaned toward best-player-available over the safe pick. That philosophy will matter even more if they’re picking first or second overall instead of much later.

Nothing makes losing easier to watch. This sort of September has fans checking out. But at least there’s something to come from having to watch bad baseball for all these months. This one can set up a great run through the farm system. The Angels are still weeks from finding out where they’ll pick, but if the ball bounces their way, they’ll at least have something to show for this miserable season.

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