The Angels are back to .500 but their record actually should be much better

Hear us out, the Angels should actually be better...
Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Angels
Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Angels | Joe Scarnici/GettyImages

The expectations surrounding how the Angels were going to perform in 2025 were incredibly low, and the masses are thrilled with the 40-40 (.500 win%) record right now. Given how poorly the team's been the past decade, it's hard to overly criticize this iteration of the Angels...especially after recently sweeping the Red Sox and taking three of four from the Yankees. That being said, if they were any other team, the Angels would be getting scorned for not taking advantage of how good they are at hitting home runs this season.

The Angels are back to .500 but their record actually should be much better

The Angels are a boom-or-bust team, meaning that their approach at the plate is to hit home runs. Their formula is HRs=Wins. The Angels have hit the fourth most home runs in baseball so far this season, so shoutout to Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Logan O'Hoppe and co!

The Halos are 8-12 in games in which they do not hit a homer, 32-28 when they do and 21-14 when they have two or more HRs. It seems unsustainable to hit two or more home runs every game, but the Angels are, in fact, tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second most multi-HR games in baseball (the Dodgers have the most). Being seven games over .500 in games where you hit two or more HRs is good...right?

The Angels have a terrible win% when hitting two or more home runs in a game -- that .600 win% (21-14 record) is tied for 4th lowest in baseball. Virtually every other team in baseball, other than the A's, Rockies and Pirates, is better than the Angels when hitting two or more home runs. They cannot hit as many home runs as the Angels, but they win whey they do. In fact, the last month the Angels are just 6-5 when hitting two or more home runs in a game. That .545 win% is tied for the second worst in baseball in that span.

The Angels' 32-28 record in games where they hit at least one home run also seems fine, but it's actually not. That 32-28 record is good for a .533 win%, which is the 7th worst win% in baseball. Only the Rockies, White Sox, Pirates, A's, Nationals and Marlins have a worse win% in games where they hit at least one homer...not great company!

The Diamondbacks, who the Angels play in a couple weeks, are currently 41-39 and getting torched nationally for their subpar season even though they play in MLB's toughest division. National writers are calling them trade deadline sellers, and many view their season as disappointing given that their pitching cannot back up their elite lineup. It's just funny how similar the Angels and Diamondbacks are, and how the Halos' fanbase is over the moon right now and the Snakes' fanbase is irate. The Angels should be held to the same standard as the Diamondbacks -- win more games when your lineup looks the way it does.

The Angels' pitching and defense are coming around, but they absolutely need to be better at closing out games when they do put balls in seats. The pure volume of home runs is likely to regress, so the run prevention unit needs to take advantage while the lineup it hitting long balls like this. In short, the Angels' quality needs to catch up to its quantity.

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