A 2024 MLB playoff rooting guide for Los Angeles Angels fans

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True baseball fans tune in for both regional and national games.

Angels fans might have a tough time watching baseball, as they could use some respite after watching their favorite team endure their worst season ever. Watching teams chase their postseason aspirations might leave a bad taste in the mouths of the many Angels fans who have waited 10 seasons and counting for the same feeling. Just a chance is all they are looking for, like the 12 teams' fanbases have right now.

Once Angels fans tune in they will see some familiar faces, be it friend or foe. They will see teams who shared common ground with them just mere weeks ago, and other teams who make them grit their teeth out of anger. Here's a breakdown of how Angels fans, as a whole, will be feeling as they watch the playoffs from the outside looking in yet again.

Rooting for: Atlanta Braves

Some Angels fans might ask: why should I root Braves? It's valid, because it might not be immediately obvious when you think about it. Well, the Braves and Angels are more intertwined as franchises than one would believe.

Minasian clearly aspires to model his franchise after his old one, and why should he not? The Braves won the World Series back in 2021, and have made the playoffs for seven straight seasons now. In fact, it's almost comical how often Perry Minasian trades with and mirrors his former club -- almost like he wants to feed the Braves his best players and turn the Angels into the Braves-West.

Minasian basically handed the Braves his marquee closer, Raisel Iglesias, during the 2022 trade deadline. The workhorse closer gave the Angels 1.5 incredible years, including an 11th place Cy Young finish in 2021, but the Angels only received back RHP Jesse Chavez and LHP Tucker Davidson. Oh, and guess where Chavez is now?! That's right, the Braves. Iglesias pitched in both games of the make-or-break doubleheader against the Mets on September 30th. He gave Braves fans a heart attack in the first game, but sealed their postseason berth in the second.

Another incredible story for the 2024 Braves was the resurgence from Angels legend, Reynaldo López. López was among the many players Minasian traded for at the 2023 trade deadline, then ended up getting waiving in order to escape luxury tax penalties. The Angels were in buy-now mode last season, then went into the tank, but it was not because of López's efforts. The reliever-turned-starter gave the Angels some solid production throughout his short time in the Big A.

Gio Urshela somehow found himself playing meaningful games in Atlanta. The Colombian utility man batted .299 in 62 games for the Angels in 2023. The Braves used Jimmy Herget for 12.1 innings this season. They traded for former fan favorite, David Fletcher (and Max Stassi), and turned him into a pitcher. A knuckleball pitcher. He pitched 100.0 innings this season across Atlanta's AA and AAA teams. Earlier in the season, the Braves did the Angels a solid in trading Luis Guillorme to LA following an injury to Anthony Rendon. Old friend, Andrew "Squid" Velazquez played 118 games in AAA for the Braves.

While Angels fans might harbor some resentment towards the Braves for maximizing talent that was once their's to root for, there are simply too many familiar faces that were once fan favorites in that organization.

Rooting against: Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers

These go without saying.

The Astros and Dodgers are boogeymen for seemingly every MLB team, but especially the Angels. Their dreaded division rivals, the Astros, have made the playoffs eight straight times. Their intra-city rivals, the Dodgers, have made 12 straight. These historic runs of greatness have come heavily at the Angels' expense. This season, the Angels went 4-9 against the Astros. Shohei Ohtani reminds Angels fans just how inept their owner is, while he excels in Dodger-blue.

Are Angels fans rooting against Shohei Ohtani? Not exactly, although there certainly is a faction that enjoys booing the game's biggest superstar for his supposed betrayal. They certainly are hoping for the worst for his new team, but not him.

A short playoff run for Houston could potentially help the Angels in the long-term. If soon-to-be free agent, Alex Bregman, under-performs, the long-time Astros third baseman might not receive as much financial commitment from Houston as he would on the open market. The same goes for Yusei Kikuchi, another impending unrestricted free agent. While Kikuchi's first nine starts in Houston led to nine victories, he only has 1.2 innings of postseason experience in his career. The Astros measure their success heavily based on postseason performance.

The Astros do not possess the pipeline they once did. In fact, some sites believe even the Angels have better MiLB talent than them. If the Astros falter either against the Tigers or in the ALDS, and lose both Bregman and Kikuchi, the Angels could MAYBE start closing the gap in the AL West.

Speaking of Detroit...

Rooting for: Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers

While the Angels surely are sad to see themselves now stand alone in infamy, they will be rooting for the franchises that almost stunk as badly as them over the past 10 years. The Tigers and Royals embody everything the Angels covet moving forward: improbable runs to the postseason, in spite of their market and recent history, with a little front office spending peppered in.

Kansas City broke their eight year streak of missing the postseason, and did so by spending more in free agency than anybody expected them to. They signed impact pitchers like Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, and veteran position players like (old friend!) Hunter Renfroe. It just goes to show: owners who trust their front office members to evaluate talent correctly and make savvy financial commitments can reap the rewards sooner rather than later.

Detroit and Los Angeles both had gone nine straight years of missing the playoffs. The Angels are up to 10, and the Tigers are down to 0. The Tigers do not possess any big-name players, other than a presumptive AL Cy Young winner, but they proved that organizational depth can get teams out of the doldrums of mediocrity. Detroit fashioned their bullpen seemingly out of nothing, and they highly utilize relievers as openers. Their rotation should have taken a step back after trading Jack Flaherty away, but it did the exact opposite. Every team around the league, despite the great story, should be looking at the Tigers and be thinking "if they can do it, why can't we?" The Angels would love to have a beacon of hope, and the Tigers' success down the stretch of the 2024 season could do just that.

Also, they play Houston.

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Rooting for: Atlanta Braves

Rooting against: Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers

Rooting for: Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers

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