5 former Angels players whose playoff hopes are still alive

The Los Angeles Angels are once again missing out on the MLB postseason party, as they failed to make the playoffs for the ninth straight year. With Shohei Ohtani potentially leaving this offseason, it could be a lot longer until we see this team back playing meaningful October baseball.

While the Angels missed out on the postseason, they still have several of their former players succeeding on other teams who have made it to the League Championship series.

1) Brandon Marsh, Philadelphia Phillies

Brandon Marsh is easily the most impactful player on this list. Marsh underperforming with the Angels led to the trade that landed them Logan O'Hoppe at the 2022 trade deadline. O'Hoppe has been awesome with the Angels when healthy and looks like their catcher of the future, but Marsh has caught fire in Philadelphia.

Marsh swung a hot bat for the Phillies in the second half of last season which helped them win the National League pennant, and now they are just two wins away from winning another Pennant with Marsh once again playing a key role.

The young outfielder slashed .277/.372/.458 with 12 home runs and 60 RBI in 133 games for the Phillies this season. He played solid defense in the outfield as always, and has settled in quite nicely as Philadelphia's starting left fielder against right-handed pitching.

After a quiet beginning to his postseason, Marsh has seven hits in his last 14 at-bats including a home run and two doubles in his last four games, helping the Phillies go 4-0 in that span. The trade still has worked out quite nicely for the Angels, but this version of Marsh would've been nice to have in Anaheim.

2) Michael Lorenzen, Philadelphia Phillies

Michael Lorenzen is another member of the Phillies this season but he's played a much smaller role than Brandon Marsh. The right-hander was an Angel in the 2022 season and they helped him get his career back on track with a solid year in the rotation. He only made 18 starts for the Halos, but he was good enough to earn a chance with the Tigers in 2023.

While in Detroit Lorenzen broke out and made the all-star team as a starting pitcher. He was pitching so well that he was a popular name in trade talks. The Phillies were the winners of the Lorenzen sweepstakes, and it looked like they were geniuses when Lorenzen threw a no-hitter in his second start with the team.

Unfortunately after that masterpiece Lorenzen had an 8.01 ERA in his next nine appearances (five starts) to finish out the regular season. Lorenzen's struggles not only knocked him out of the rotation, he wasn't even on the Phillies roster for the Wild Card round. He did make it back for the NLDS and threw a scoreless inning to close out a 10-2 victory against the Braves.

Lorenzen is on the NLCS roster as well, but has yet to make an appearance. His role will really only be to provide innings if needed, or pitch in a lopsided game. Acquiring Lorenzen was Philadelphia's big trade deadline move, yet they haven't needed him at all to be two wins away from a World Series berth.

3) Martin Maldonado, Houston Astros

The Angels shipped Jett Bandy to the Milwaukee Brewers in the deal that landed them Martin Maldonado. What was a rather irrelevant deal at the time, turned into a great deal made by the Angels.

Maldonado had a great year for the Halos in 2017, hitting 14 home runs and winning a Gold Glove behind the plate. He never did much with the bat but was good enough, especially when he was a great defender. That success carried into 2018 where he was eventually traded to the Astros in the deal that netted the Angels Patrick Sandoval. Turning Jett Bandy into Patrick Sandoval is good business.

Sandoval has had his ups and downs but has been a staple in the Angels rotation and will continue to be as long as he remains with the club. Maldonado has had success of his own in Houston where he's been a key contributor on a winning team.

Maldonado remains the everyday catcher despite providing next to nothing offensively because of his glove and relationship with the pitching staff. Maldonado also somehow, always seems to come up with the clutch hit when Houston needs it the most. In ALCS Game 3 against the Rangers, Maldonado's two-run single against Max Scherzer gave Houston a 3-0 lead. They held on for the win that night to remain alive in the series.

Both the Angels and Astros did well in this trade. Houston has the trophies to back it up, but Sandoval being a mainstay in the rotation is not a bad thing when all they gave up was a light-hitting catcher.

4) Andrew Heaney, Texas Rangers

Patrick Sandoval reminds me of Andrew Heaney as an Angel in a lot of ways. Sandoval has the stuff to be a really good pitcher but often doesn't trust it and doesn't have the best results consistently. Heaney has great stuff as well, but he never quite tapped into his potential with the Angels.

The southpaw was with the Angels from 2015-2021 before being moved at the 2021 trade deadline to the New York Yankees. The Angels wound up using the two pieces they got in the Heaney trade to acquire Hunter Renfroe in the 2022 offseason. That didn't work out so great.

Since departing the Angels, Heaney has had his ups and downs. He was abysmal for the Yankees leading to him being DFA'd. Heaney then latched on with the Dodgers and the Dodgers did what they always do. Get the best out of any reclamation project. Heaney was at his best with the Dodgers but was limited to 16 appearances in 2022 due to injury.

This past offseason he signed a two-year deal to go to Texas and he's had a decent year. He posted. a 4.15 ERA in 34 appearances (28 starts). He earned the start in Game 1 of the ALDS after Texas swept the Rays in the Wild Card round and pitched well, allowing one run in 3.2 innings pitched in the Rangers win. He's currently lined up to pitch Game 4 of the ALCS against the Astros as Texas looks to go up three games to one.