ESPN insider's disrespectful Angels preseason prediction already looks dead wrong

It's been well documented how bad the Angels were last season, finishing the year with a franchise-worst 63-99 record. In some's eyes, the team is doomed for failure again in 2025. That's exactly the case that ESPN insider David Schoenfield tried to make. He noted an improvement in the lineup (more on that in a bit) but he still predicted that the Halos would lose 95 games this season.

A 95-game loss total seemed off base from the start. Noted projection system PECOTA pegged the Angels at a 75-87 mark back in February, though it is now forecasting a 72-90 record for the club. So far this season, the Angels have done everything in their power to disprove the doom-and-gloom projections. After winning each of their three series to open the season, the team sits at 6-3 through their first nine games.

The way they've won has been encouraging, too. These haven't been "easy" wins that were the result of unforced errors by the opposition and instead many have been of the hard-fought, come-from-behind variety.

The culture shift in the locker room is a big reason why Schoenfield already looks so off base. Last year, things often snowballed once the opposition made a move to take control of the game. This year, there's been a sense of togetherness and a fighting spirit where the team comes together to lift each other up and claw back into games.

Schoenfield made another bold prediction, and that one makes his prediction about the Angels' record look even worse.

The Angels losing 95 games seems ludicrous if the lineup is as potent as Schoenfield suggests

From that same power rankings article, the "bold" portion of the prediction, according to Schoenfield, is that the Angels' lineup will feature six 20 home run hitters, up from four last season. The analyst specifically calls out Mike Trout and Jorge Soler as the two who will get the Angels to that level of power production.

Trout has felt really good since moving from centerfield to right, and the underlying metrics so far this season show that he's producing like his former MVP self. As for Soler, the veteran slugger is replacing a DH corps that was among the dregs of the league, ranking 27th in the league with a 73 wRC+ as a unit in 2024.

As a team, the Angels ranked 22nd in homers last year with 165. Adding two more with the minimum 20 apiece would have had them at 205 long balls and vaulted them up to seventh, just two shy of the New York Mets.

Apart from solely hitting homers, slugging was a real problem for the Angels last year. The team's lifeless .369 SLG was better than only the Rays and the historically bad White Sox. Again, adding two more 20+ homer performances to the group drastically improves that outlook.

The simple fact of the matter that Schoenfield missed is that Soler's addition significantly improves the weakest spot in the Angels' lineup, while projecting Trout for at least 20 homers means the future Hall of Famer will be relatively healthy in 2025, therefore a measly four-win improvement is underselling the team tremendously.

It will take more than a hot first two weeks of the season to wash away the stench of last year, but make no mistake, this is a club that is more competitive than the previous year's model, and is building a winning culture to support its young core and their future development.

The Angels still have much to prove, but some national reporters and insiders still have some anti-Angels bias that should make you question their objectivity when it comes to these power rankings and projections. The Angels probably won't be true contenders this season, but that doesn't mean they aren't on a path to serious improvement.

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