The likelihood of the Angels securing a spot in the playoffs is extremely thin, with only 24 matches left to play. As of September 4, they lag a significant 13.5 games behind the last wild card position.
The Angels are part of the American League’s West Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). Established in 1961, they were among the initial two clubs to expand and were the first to be based in California.
Until the 2015 MLB season, the team was officially called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Over the years, they clinched nine Division championships, with the most recent one in 2014.
Moreover, the franchise’s achievements include one American League pennant and one World Series championship. Since 1966, their home matches have been hosted at the Angel Stadium.
As for their current performance, the Angels have a 64-74 standing after their recent defeat, 3-6, to the Orioles on September 4. This places them in the fourth position in the American League West Division.
Are The Angels Out Of The Playoffs?
The chances of the Angels getting into the playoffs are almost zero. They lag by thirteen and a half games for the last Wild Card spot and the Division top.
Their goal at the start of the season was to break their eight-year absence from the playoffs, which is the longest ongoing streak in the league, matched only by the Tigers. The team, including two MLB MVPs, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, was quite strong.
In the previous season, their record was 73-89, which left them thirty-three games away from the Division’s top spot and thirteen places away from the final Wild Card spot. The 2023 season began on March 30 with a defeat to the A’s.
April and May saw a reasonable start for the Angels, ending both months with a 15-13 record. This left them just three games away from a Wild Card spot by the end of May with a 30-27 record.
Despite the inconsistent performance over the next two months, they finished with a 56-51 record. This placed them third in their Division, trailing the leaders, the Texas Rangers, by four and a half games.
They had a fair shot at the playoffs, being just three games away from the last Wild Card spot. But they faltered at the critical moment, winning only three of the first fourteen games in August.
They won just eight out of twenty-seven games that month. From being only three games away from a Wild Card spot at July’s end, they fell to eleven and a half games behind by the end of August.
September started poorly for the Los Angeles team, with no wins yet. The month began with the first of a three-game series against the major league’s weakest team, the Oakland Athletics.
The A’s dominated the Halos with a total score of 21-9. A loss on September 4 to the Baltimore Orioles extended the Angels’ losing streak to four games.
With only twenty-four games left and a challenging schedule ahead, it’s almost impossible for the Halos to break their eight-year playoff absence.
Although they haven’t been officially knocked out of the postseason race, realistically, they have no chance of making it to the playoffs.
The decline of the Angels after a promising 40-32 start to the season can be attributed to several factors.
Key players like Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout getting injured and the lack of contribution from the team’s young talents are among the reasons.
Last time Angels Made The Playoffs
The Los Angeles Angels last participated in the playoffs in the 2014 MLB season, during which they were crowned the AL West Division champions.
This marked the 54th season for the franchise and its 49th since relocating to Anaheim. Notably, the team’s overall record surpassed the .500 threshold that year.
On September 9, the Angels secured their positive all-time record with their 89th victory of the season.
This achievement made them the first team to have an all-time winning record since the 1960 expansion, following the Houston Astros in the 2006 MLB season.
The season started and ended on a disappointing note for the Angels as they suffered a series sweep loss to the Seattle Mariners both at the beginning and end of the season.
In April, the LA team won 14 of 26 matches, followed by 16 victories out of 28 in May. This winning streak continued into June, with 15 victories in 25 matches.
July proved to be the most rewarding month for the Angels as they secured 13 victories in the first 15 matches. Their record before the All-Star break stood at 57-37, the league’s second-best.
The Angels finished the season as the league’s top team, clinching their ninth Division title. This positioned them as the top seed in the playoffs, pitting them against the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series.
The Royals, who had qualified as the fourth-seed Wild Card team, previously defeated the A’s in the Wild Card Series with a 9-8 win in a twelve-inning match.
Surprisingly, the Royals managed a clean sweep against the Angels, who were the season’s best team, thus ending their playoff journey.
The initial two matches, hosted at the Angel Stadium, extended into 11 innings each to declare a winner.
Kansas emerged victorious in the first match with a 3-2 win and secured a 4-1 win in the second match, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. The decisive match at Kauffman Stadium ended in an 8-3 loss for the Angels, resulting in their exit from the postseason.
As of 2023, this remains the most recent postseason appearance for the Los Angeles Angels. Key players during this season included Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Jered Weaver, and Garrett Richards
The Angels Magic Number 2023
As of September 2, the magic number of the Angels is 41/16, indicating they are more likely to be eliminated than to make it to the playoffs.
The magic number shows how close a team is to winning their division or entering the postseason. For the Angels, this means they require 41 wins and losses by their nearest rivals to make it to the playoffs.
This number goes down by one each time the team secures a victory or when a rival team close in the standings suffers a defeat.
The concept of the ‘magic number’ came into existence in the 1947 season, during a tight race for the AL pennant between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.
The Angels’ magic number for elimination stands at 16, which is significantly lower than the number needed to make it to the postseason.
This implies that if the Angels lose 16 matches or the teams above them win 16, the Halos will be out of the running.
Currently, the team is at risk of being knocked out of the playoff race. If this happens, it will be the ninth consecutive season that the Los Angeles team has not progressed beyond the regular season.
The franchise is hopeful of ending the year on a positive note and is looking ahead to the next Major League Baseball season.
They have a challenging schedule, facing teams such as the Orioles, the Bay Rays, the Mariners, the Twins, the Rangers, the Guardians, and the Athletics.
Moreover, they are just ten games away from finishing with a .500 record. Failing to achieve this would mean the franchise has had more losses than wins for the eighth consecutive MLB season.
The last time the Halos finished above .500 was in the 2015 Major League Baseball season. They concluded the season with an 85-77 record, which placed them third in the division, just three games away from winning the division title and making it to the playoffs.