Angels Look To Break Long-Running Losing Streak Without Their Biggest Star

These are bad times for Angel fans, maybe the worst of times.

Their favorite team has struggled through eight straight losing seasons. That’s the longest stretch of losing in Angel history. The Angels haven’t reached the postseason since 2014, and they haven’t won a postseason game since 2009.

Their brightest star — the spectacular two-way player Shohei Ohtani — left to join the Dodgers. The Angels signed no significant hitters during the offseason. And there’s little help coming from a minor league system ranked at the bottom by MLB.com.

So that’s the bad stuff. Is there anything positive for Angel fans as they play their first home game tonight against the Boston Red Sox?

A little bit.

New Angels manager Ron Washington is one of the best teachers in baseball. He was part of the coaching staff of the Atlanta Braves when they won the World Series in 2021. Earlier, Washington managed the Texas Rangers to the World Series in 2010 and 2011.

After the Orioles pounded the Angels in the first two games of the season last week in Baltimore, Washington called the team into a closed-door locker room meeting. No shouting, just reminders to stay focused. The Angels have won four games in a row since that meeting.

Various injuries kept superstar centerfielder Mike Trout out of half the Angels’ ballgames over the last three seasons. But he’s healthy now, and he began his 14th season with the Angels with three home runs in the first six games, including a gigantic 473-foot blast Monday night in Miami.

Trout’s talented outfield teammate Taylor Ward is also back. He missed the last two months of last season after he was hit in the face with a pitch during a game in Toronto. Like Trout, Ward has hit three homers in the first six ballgames.

But winning for a full season and not just in the first week will require more. Starting pitchers Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, and Griffin Canning need to pitch better than they did in 2023. So far, Anderson and Detmers have pitched better. Sandoval and Canning, not so much.

General manager Perry Minasian beefed up the Angels’ inconsistent bullpen during the offseason. He brought in seven relief pitchers, including veteran strikeout pitcher Robert Stephenson. One concern: Stephenson hasn’t pitched at all this spring; he’s down with a sore shoulder.

And that points at something that’s plagued the Angels for years: injuries. The Angels must stay healthy to succeed at all. There’s not enough roster depth to withstand a long absence by anyone in the starting lineup.

Speaking of absences, that appears to be happening in the grandstands.

Before the pandemic, the Angels had drawn at least 3 million fans for 17 straight seasons. But unlike most MLB teams, Angel attendance is not back to where it was pre-pandemic. It’s still down about half a million.

It might be a message Angel fans are sending to team owner Arte Moreno: When it comes to losing seasons, eight is enough.