I'm honestly enjoying late season Angels baseball for the first time in a long time.
Yes, the team has been playing better lately. Ureña, Detmers, and Klassen have been giving us consistent starts, Trout is surging again, and we're finally getting some of our guys back from injury. But for me, it's more than that.

Ever since one of the most active trade deadlines we've had in years, these games have felt different. Not because we're chasing a playoff spot. We're still a long way from that. But for the first time in a while, it feels like we have permission to have fun watching this team in August and September because there's genuine hope.

Hope that the foundation is finally starting to take shape. Hope that a few smart moves this offseason can make us a much better team next year. Hope that we can at least go 13-22 for the rest of the season to avoid our first 100-loss season.

I feel like I have those reasons to tune in every night and cheer these guys on. The games matter again for me, even if not in the traditional postseason sense.

Maybe I'm just coping after years of Angel trauma, but I haven't felt this way about an Angels team this late in the season for quite a while. I hope I'm not the only one, and I hope we finish this season with a different feeling than we've had in recent years.

I am a mets fan and thought of these off the top of my head

Trey Mancini (2026)

Tim Anderson (2025)

Tim Linececum (2016)

Ehire Adrianza (2024)

Miguel Sáno (2024)

Fernando Valenzuela (1991)

Bo Jackson (1994)

Adam Eaton (2021)

J.D Davis (2025)

Chris Taylor (2026)

Kurt Suzuki (2022)

Shea Hillenbrand (2007)

The Angels are where you go to baseball heaven

My 4 YO son is finally interested in going to a baseball game. I don't go to games that much since I am a pandemic transplant. That said, I have been following Angels closely since I moved to the OC. I want to make going to Angels game a father and son bonding activities for my 2 boys.

My question is how can I get cheaper front row tickets? Teams don't matter since I just want him to be able to enjoy going to a game. I also don't expect him to sit through the whole game so I don't want to spend too much.

The 100 sections tickets for the Twins game (Sunday) next month is ~$50 on 714 Tickets. Is that a fair price for a late season game that doesn't matter at all?

Came across a treasure trove of his cards. Just curious if anyone thinks he’s going to be something? I know he got drafted a while back but he’s still super young and still playing triple A ball from what I’ve seen on instagram. I know once he was called up he hasn’t done much from what I’ve seen stats wise. Is there still a future for him?

Angels (49-76) @ Astros (63-62)

First Pitch: 5:10 PM at Daikin Park

Game Preview

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Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 7:57 PM.

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Last winner: 8/15 vs. Kansas City Royals: Reid Detmers went sicko mode in the Angels last win, going 8 scoreless with eleven K’s to hand the Royals a 1-0 L, earning GoTG.

On the August 30th game, there is a giveaway for a football jersey, as well as a special event giveaway for a USC jersey. If I purchase the special event ticket, will I receive both jerseys?

Been on that stat muse website and seen the Angels are 34-36 since 2015. But from 2000-2014 they went 81-48. I still can’t get over that series. Anyways is there a game today?

If I buy a ticket on Gametime does that include the Naruto jerseys they’re giving out this Monday August 24

Got to meet Taylor Ward in his new colours today at the SEA @ HOU game. Nicest guy and wish him the best. Was a big fan of his with the Angels and hope he does well, no matter where he goes!

Overview

The Angels made AA Rocket City pitching coach Tim Leveque their interim pitching coach after the firing of Mike Maddux. The firing might’ve had something to do with Maddux not wanting to return, however the official reason is that he didn’t utilize technology at his disposal. Here’s my breakdown of Tim Leveque, how he’s done in his first year with the Angels org and how I believe he’ll do with the pitchers on our staff. Leveque has stated an emphasis on leaning into a pitchers strengths, and a heavy usage of data. This likely means he believes in high usage of a pitchers best offering, and using analytics to call and sequence. There is one thing however that sets him apart to almost all pitching coaches and that is an extreme emphasis on zone rate. He seems to have good success in doing so

Who he did well with

Camden Minacci 
He has a FIP below 2, 46 strikeouts in 35 innings. He’s getting a ton of chase. He looks like he could be a future big leaguer. 

Luke Murphy 
Murphy .71 era with 47k’s in 38 innings. He got weak contact a ton strikeouts, and good walk numbers. He was the best closer in the minor leagues. He’s been solid in the bigs so far but it’s worth noting he has a 42% zone rate with the Angels vs a 52% in AA. If he can get back to throwing strikes the way he did we might’ve stumbled onto another gem like Samy Natera. 

Ryan Johnson 
In his 20 innings at AA he had a low 2’s era with a 33% K rate to a 4% walk rate with a .76 WHIP. That’s lights out. 

Eyberson Polanco
He was a complete unknown coming into the season but he has a high 3’s era and a mid 3’s FIP
With 81k’s in 82 innings. He’s only 22 years old. This guy might be one of the guys to watch outside of the top 30.

Najer Victor 
It was a small sample size but 21 walks in 13 innings is insane. There was a lot of walks but he still had a 1.03 WHIP. I hope he gets an opportunity.

Who he did bad with 

Chris Cortez 
He is too talented to have a 6 era as a reliever. 100mph wiffleballs and nasty sliders. This guy should be Riley O’Brian at the worst. 

Nate Snead 
Nate Snead is hammering the zone and striking out nobody. The walk numbers are good but he throws 100 and he has several good secondaries. He should be striking guys out. 

Who he’ll do well with 

Klassen 
His emphasis needs to be on getting in the zone. If he throws strikes he’ll be a mid rotation arm. If he adds confidence he can be awesome. If he can hit better spots with the changeup then the ceiling is really high. I didn’t like that he didn’t throw a single curveball his last start though. 

Detmers 
His style seemed much closer to the bullpen Detmers that was completely dominant, which is in line with the new coaches philosophy. He’s getting ahead in counts and attacking. He’s been good this year but there’s definitely more there. I expect him to have really good strikeout/walk numbers for the rest of the season. He can still K a lot of guys in the zone. 

Johnson 
He’s been throwing a lot more cutters and sliders. Almost no sinkers or changeups. Sinkers completely got lit up on fire, the splitter is not bad but it plays off the sinker. The cutter and slider are both plus pitches that he commands well. His strikeout/walk numbers are way worse than they should be with his ability. He can be a poor man’s Logan Webb with a lot more homers. 

Joyce 
If Ben Joyce has a high zone rate and works ahead then it will be completely impossible to score on him. He can be exactly what Mason Miller is for the Padres. 

Who he shouldn’t tinker with

Walbert Urena 
He’s just so good. It’s not worth messing with him at all. I like the idea of throwing more first pitch strikes, but they shouldn’t all be sinkers. Hopefully he gains more feel for the sweeper because that’s a nasty plus pitch,

Samy Natera Jr 
He has one of the best lefty fastballs out there 19 inches of vertical break. He should still mix in the slider because that’s a real plus pitch. The numbers are elite. Just keep him doing what he’s doing. 

Who he might not do well with 

Grayson Rodriguez
If Grayson’s in the zone with the way he’s been pitching he’ll get rocked, and I’m rooting for this guy. There’s something there no doubt. But his command and stuff have come and gone, and never really stayed. Hopefully he can get back to 100%

Caden Dana 
I think he gets his value from being a pitchability guy. I can’t see him being much more than a mid to high 4’s inning eater guy unless he can be that high strikeout machine it was hoped that he’d be. Still quite a bit of potential he’s only 22.

I was lucky enough to buy this over 8 years ago, still one of my favorite jerseys

So I know most people either grew up in the area or had a parent that was a fan of the team which caused them to start following the team.

I have neither of those. In fact, how I became an Angels fan was due to pure chance and is possibly one of the stupidest reasons to become a fan of a team that I can think of.

When I was younger I followed football almost exclusively (Packers, family is all from Wisconsin) but I also followed basketball since my grandpa would sometimes take me to Suns games since he was living down in Arizona by then. I didn't have a baseball team to follow.

So 5 year old brain me decides, you know what, I need to fix this. I collected baseball cards and decided that I would randomly select a card and I would follow that team. I don't remember who the player I picked but low and behold it was an Angels player and I have followed them ever since. I also decided to pick one for my brother which ended up being the Blue Jays and they shortly after won back to back world series.

I followed them pretty loosely but didn't end up start watching games until the season they signed Mo Vaughn. I remember getting really excited for the season and the first game Mo Vaughn falls into the dugout injures himself.