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The Los Angeles Angels are struggling with one of the worst records in MLB despite Mike Trout's strong performance. Fans are increasingly tuning out, favoring other teams like the Dodgers and Padres.
Mike Trout has 11 home runs and 23 RBIs so far this season, but the Angels enter Thursday with one of the worst records in the majors. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
I walked around a street fair in Irvine over the weekend, checking out the crowd while waiting for my daughterâs dance team to perform. We were a few short miles from Angel Stadium, but you wouldnât have known it: lots of people wearing Dodgers caps, someone wearing a Shohei Ohtani cap, someone else wearing an Ohtani jersey, someone else wearing a Clayton Kershaw jersey, a dog wearing a Dodgers bandana, and people repping the Padres, Giants, Athletics and Yankees.
After 25 minutes, someone walked by in an Angels cap.
If the passion wanes, apathy can set in. I wondered if that is where the Angels might find themselves now, with a slice of their fan base finding a more enjoyable way to spend its summers than watching one losing season after another, and with the shadow of baseballâs best team extending ever more securely into Orange County.
Something else happened over the weekend that made me wonder. On the heels of a winless road trip, and on the day before the Angels would claim the worst record in the major leagues, Angels general manager Perry Minasian to reporters: âOur best baseball is in front of us. Thereâs no doubt about that.â
Mike Trout has 11 home runs and 23 RBIs so far this season.
Fans are losing interest due to the team's poor performance and are opting to support more successful teams like the Dodgers.
The Angels enter Thursday with one of the worst records in the majors.
If fan passion wanes, the Angels could face increased apathy, leading to fewer fans attending games and supporting the team.
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No doubt?
Angels general manager Perry Minasian declined to predict in the team would make the playoffs this season. (Elsa Garrison / Getty Images)
On the Angelsâ broadcast the previous night, reporter Erica Weston presented play-by-play announcer Wayne Randazzo with a birthday gift: a figurine of Grogu, a character in the Star Wars family. Randazzo said he would keep Grogu in the broadcast booth, as a good luck charm for the Angels.
âWe certainly could use one,â Randazzo said.
Minasian, the sixth-year general manager, has yet to deliver a team that finished better than 17 games out of first place. On Wednesday, I asked him to explain why he was so confident in saying he had âno doubtâ the teamâs best days were ahead.
âWeâve been very competitive,â Minasian said. âOur wins and losses arenât where we want them to be, but we have lost a lot of one-run games, a lot of tough games.â
The Angels have lost six one-run games. So have the Yankees, the team with the best record in the American League.
The Angelsâ run differential is minus-14. They are four games behind in the AL West, where the first-place Athletics have a .500 record and a minus-21 run differential. You never know.
So far, however, the Angelsâ offense is all about the three true outcomes: They strike out the most of any major league team and rank among the top six in walks and home runs, but they do not rank among the top 10 in runs. Only five teams have given up more runs.
âGoing to the bullpen has been a harbinger of danger for the Angels,â Randazzo told viewers. The Angelsâ bullpen entered Wednesday with a 5.35 earned-run average, the highest in the AL.
Owner Arte Moreno cut payroll this year, amid the implosion of the FanDuel regional sports networks. Edwin DĂaz was not walking through the bullpen door.
Angels owner Arte Moreno. (Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
But the Dodgers find solid bullpen arms in ways beyond buying them: Evan Phillips was cast off by the Baltimore Orioles during a 110-loss season; Alex Vesia was acquired from the Miami Marlins after putting up an 18.69 ERA in his first five major league games.
âWeâve had guys like that,â Minasian said.
He cited Brock Burke, a waiver claim who gave the Angels two solid seasons in middle relief. Minasian traded him last winter for outfielder Josh Lowe, and any general manager would trade a middle reliever for a middle-of-the-order bat. To this point, Lowe has a .198 on-base percentage and a .287 slugging percentage.
Lowe is but a data point in illustrating this primary point: Minasianâs margin for error is smaller than it otherwise would have been if Moreno had not withdrawn from the market for top-tier free agents or had approved trading Ohtani for elite prospects that would have accelerated rebuilding. Smaller, but other teams do more with less.
âWeâve got to be able to develop our own players,â Minasian said.
On the day Minasian said he had âno doubtâ better days were ahead for his team, the Angels, their triple-A affiliate and their double-A affiliate all were in last place.
Analysts perennially rank the Angelsâ farm system among baseballâs worst. Minasian said heâll put his faith in four homegrown starters: JosĂ© Soriano, Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz and Walbert Ureña. Their combined ERA so far: 2.99.
âWhen you look at good teams and sustainable winners, they build rotations, whether thatâs through trades or free agency or your own,â Minasian said. âWeâre doing it with our own. You canât microwave that overnight.â
You canât make fans wait forever for October either. Angels fans have heard enough about building a competitive team and needing patience.
They have not seen their team in a playoff game in 12 years. When are they going to see that?
Angels pitcher Walbert Ureña delivers against the New York Mets at Angel Stadium on May 1. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
âIâm not in the prediction business,â said Minasian, whose contract expires after this season. âTheyâre going to see a team that plays hard every day. Theyâre going to see young, talented players day in and day out.â
Thatâs fine, but when are they going to see a winning team?
âThe proof will be in the pudding,â he said. âIt doesnât matter what I say. I could say all these things. At the end of the day, weâre going to go play 162 games. Weâll see where we end up and whoâs done what, and weâll go from there.â
On Wednesday, the Angels won a series for the first time since April 13. Theyâre 3-2 with Grogu in the broadcast booth.
The schedule gets more challenging: a trip to Toronto and Cleveland, then back to the Big A to play the Dodgers. The same distant Angel Stadium seat available on the resale market for Wednesday's game for $5 (fees included) is available for $103 for the opener of the Dodgers series.
Orange County loves a winner. There was a long line at that Irvine street fair to collect souvenirs from one booth â the one for the Anaheim Ducks.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.