Written by: Jack Hinde
Edited by: Jovan Popovic
It often feels sad watching postseason after postseason alongside the best player in the game. However, that has become the reality of baseball since Mike Trout debuted in 2012. The 2014 season for the Los Angeles Angels has been their lone notable run, winning 98 games in the regular season, though it resulted in a quick postseason exit for the Fish God and his Orange County squad at the hands of the eventual AL pennant winning Royals team.
The consensus among baseball fans is that the Los Angeles Angels are wasting the career of Trout, and have effectively subjected him to a career of carrying his team on his shoulders. Each offseason, they fail to add pieces to their lineup and leave Mike Trout; seemingly Aquaman among other, less talented, fish in the sea, to produce an MVP season every year while simultaneously being pitched around (for reference he hasn’t walked less than 81 times; averaging out to once every two team games played, since his rookie season).
This offseason was different. They finally did it. The Angels went out and acquired undoubtedly one of the top three free agents coming into the 2020 MLB season. The acquisition of third baseman Anthony Rendon, who spent the 2019 season with the World Series winning Washington Nationals, signals that this season should be different for them. Rendon is more than just an October name, rather a World Series champion. He has long been considered one of baseball’s most underrated players; and 2019 was a step forward for the newest Angel.
Last year, both Rendon and Trout received MVP votes, with Mike Trout winning his 3rd award, and Rendon finishing 3rd in voting. As well, both players were named to the inaugural All-MLB team, recognizing the best players in baseball at their respective positions. With both players squarely in the prime of their careers and neither will be over 30 years old during the 2020 season, could they become the best offensive pair in the MLB?
The pair ranked close to the top of the Major League leaderboards in all of the traditional stats (per baseball-reference.com).
As well, Rendon had three postseason homers, and his 15 RBI were the most among postseason batters.
The two also produced a pair of the top slash lines in the majors (per baseball-reference.com)
By 2019 OPS, a stat intended to measure the offensive output of a player both in their ability to get on base, and to hit for power when the ball is put in play by them, the duo ranked first in the Majors in combined OPS among teammates (minimum 550 PA).
Using the Steamer projection system, which uses previous season stats as well as aging curves, for players projected to have at least 550 PA in 2020, Rendon and Trout project to rank first among teammates in combined OPS again.
Looking at the information, it’s reasonable to assume that the Angels lineup contains one of the most dangerous pairs of offensive players in the MLB, if not the premier pair.
So, while there’s 9 spots in a lineup, and one star player alone in a lineup is easily pitched around (for example, peak Barry Bonds led the MLB in walks in 2001, 2002 and 2004 with numbers that nobody has come close to reaching since; and while the Bonds-led-Giants lost in the 2002 World Series, they failed to win their division in any of those three years, also failing to make the postseason in any other year), how has a lineup possessing the best offensive pair by OPS done in the past?
Here is a table outlining the combined OPS leaders among teammates over the past decade of baseball.
Now how did these teams fair over both the course of the regular season and the postseason? Records are from MLB.com’s historical standings.
From this (other than confirming the importance of the humidors installed in the past few years in Denver and Phoenix) the lineup with these two players has made the postseason in 70% of the last decade’s seasons, but only won the World Series one of those two times. This may sound like a troubling stat, but it is also notable that the team with the best regular season record in the Major Leagues has only won the World Series in 3 of the last 10 (2018, 2016, 2013), which brings to light the fact that the MLB postseason can often be a completely different result than the regular season, and it’s usually a matter of simply getting in.
In 2020, the Angels will most certainly benefit from a full season of Shohei Ohtani, not only back on the mound, but at the plate. He hasn’t hit less than 18 home runs in a season without registering more than 425 plate appearances (which is nearly 80 PAs less than necessary to even qualify for the batting title). Ohtani is a career 0.286 hitter in North America with a 0.883 OPS over his two seasons (per baseball-reference.com), which puts him just short of a few of the names on the table above.
From this offseason, other notable offseason additions to the Angels’ roster come in the form of starting pitching. Julio Teheran, a two time All-Star, was a free agency acquisition who is a talented, but ultimately unattractive starter primarily due to a perceived lack of upside from his long career in the MLB thus far. Dylan Bundy, who had hype that reached the sky before debuting with the Orioles in 2012 but was never able to come close to that potential. Matt Andriese, who despite being known for consistency, will likely work in more of a long reliever role and make an occasional spot start.
The final significant difference is Shohei Ohtani, although not necessarily an acquisition, he will be a major difference maker upon his return to the mound. Ohtani posted a 3.31 ERA across 50.1 innings in 2018 (per baseball-reference.com) and struck out well over a batter per inning pitched.
Other players to look for in 2020 include Jo Adell, top 5 prospect in baseball by MLB.com, who is expected to debut during the 2020 MLB season; and the hope that maybe for a few games The Machine himself, Albert Pujols can appear again just as he was in prime. There is so much to look forward to in the upcoming season for this team, and whether or not the punishment headed towards the Astros, combined with possible regression for the perennially frivolous Athletics can open a window for the only team with the team with the most hilariously redundant name in sports; it’s hard to deny that the signing of free agent Anthony Rendon indicates that 2020 will be an exciting season for the Angels and their fans. Would it be more than a misguided conspiracy that you can rearrange the numbers from 2002, the last time a World Series came to Anaheim, to create 2020?
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