Angels staring down barrel of troubling historic trend after puzzling trade deadline

All it took was two victories in late-July for Arte Moreno to believe the Angels might be competitive the rest of the season. Now, the Angels owner did not think they would be that competitive, as all Perry Minasian did was bring in a full-time bench player and two average (at best) veteran relievers on expiring contracts. They sat on that fence during the trade deadline, and are betting on their current team staying healthy, staying together and staying alive.

"At the end of the day, we felt like this was the best way to go. To me, being competitive in August, being competitive in September, I think is very, very important. Playing meaningful games in August is very, very important. Not only for now, but for our future, especially for our young players." That is what Minasian had to say after the deadline passed. In order to be competitive, the team needs to, you know, actually be competitive...and there's a massively relevant historical precedent that shows the Angels will not actually be competitive for that much longer.

Angels staring down barrel of troubling historic trend after puzzling trade deadline

Never mind the fact that the Angels have a worse run differential than the freakin' Chicago White Sox right now, or the Rangers, Mariners and Astros are far better on paper than them right now (not to mention the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and even the Royals) or even that the Angels have one of the hardest remaining strength of schedules in baseball, the Angels just do not historically play well in the month of August. Let's look back at the last 10 years -- the organization has a 116-164 record in the month of August, which is good for a .414 Win%. That is the third worst August Win% from 2015-on in baseball, and only the the Rockies and Marlins have a worst win rate in that time span.

Let's flash back to 2023, the Angels defied the cries of their fan base and general logic and bought at the trade deadline. What they did at the 2023 trade deadline was far more substantive than what they did in 2025, and yet they still went on to absolutely tank. They wound up waiving every player they acquired, plus Matt Moore, minus Mike Moustakas and Randal Grichuk. Guess which of the last 10 years the Angels have their worst August Win%? That's right -- 2023! Their .296 Win% in the August of 2023 is their worst, with 2024, the worst year in franchise history, coming in second place (or second to last).

The Angels have only gone over .500 in August in 2017 (18-10 record), with their next best August record being a 14-15 mark in both 2021 and 2022. Maybe this year will be different? Moreno and Minasian are sure betting on it. However, the Angels are still the Angels and fans are bracing themselves for the worst, since they have seen this organization tank pretty much every August for the past ten years.

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