A striking thing to me, which struck when I went to look up his career stats, was the realization that this is Albert Pujols’s seventh season in Anaheim. That is a long, long time in baseball terms, an entire second career that started at age 32. It’s surprisingly tough to recall his Cardinals heyday in anything but…
There’s no other way to say it: Mike Trout is in Barry Bonds territory. Not merely statistically, as noted by former Deadspinner Emma Baccellieri, who is either dead or at SI now, I forget which. But in the fear he engenders in opponents, who will pitch to him only when they absolutely must.
Mike Trout got on base four times against the Diamondbacks on Monday night, thanks to two walks and two singles. Trout is basically always on base—he’s currently sporting a career-high .464 OBP—so that’s not a remarkable thing in and of itself. Neither is the fact that his teammates failed to drive him a single time.…
Old—and possibly very old—man Albert Pujols wrapped up a six-game homestand on Thursday with a harmless fly-out to right field, as his team’s final batter in a 12-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. A fine result for the team, but a mild personal frustration, and probably a tremendous bummer for the 35,879 fans who…
Shohei Ohtani smoked another home run Friday night, his fourth of the season. This one came off a sizzling 97-mph fastball from Yankees pitcher Luis Severino that appeared to be well off the plate inside:
Brandon Belt of the Giants worked an insane 13-minute, 21-pitch plate appearance in the top of the first inning today, against Angels starter Jaime Barria. This strikes me as almost a troll move! Barria faced six batters in the inning, gave up three singles, and loaded the bases—he threw 28 pitches to players not…
I feel like if you’re even remotely a sports fan, you must tune in to watch Shohei Ohtani. What he is doing so far this season is genuinely insane. Listen to me! He leads the Angels in home runs, batting average, and OPS, and is second in runs batted in, and today he took a perfect game into the seventh inning. He…
The Angels opened a home series against the Athletics Friday night, in a game in which 14 total pitchers were used, and neither starter made it past the fourth inning. Wait, hang on, 15 total pitchers were used—Shohei Ohtani, a pitcher, started at designated hitter for the Angels, and smoked this here 449-foot…
In his first at-bat since earning a win in his first major-league start two days ago, two-way rookie phenom Shohei Ohtani smacked one back to center field for his first major-league home run:
Dodger Stadium is full of shit. It was last night, at least.
Before signing with the Angels, Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani narrowed his list to seven teams, and heard in-person presentations from each. Players from one of those teams, at least, say the whole thing was a farce and Ohtani shouldn’t have wasted their time.
The words “elbow” and “damage” can easily be terrifying when used together in any headline about a pitcher, much less one who could potentially be among the greatest players of his generation and certainly among the most fascinating, but do not fret (that much). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has reported that Shohei…
Shohei Ohtani just signed with the Angels, and according to a report from ESPN, there’s a good chance they will be subjected to an investigation by Major League Baseball.
It’d be dramatic to claim that Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons is underappreciated, because his two Gold Gloves and stellar defensive stats seem to indicate that he’s being rightfully recognized, but how many infielders are capable of tricking two runners into an inning-ending rundown?
The Angels’ decision to let Bud Norris make his first start of the year on Friday, rather than come from the bullpen to work toward his 60th relief appearance of the season, might have helped block them from having to pay up for the $500,000 bonus Norris is contractually owed if he reaches that milestone. Don’t worry,…
Mike Fiers had a really bad first inning yesterday against the Angels—five runs allowed, including a two-run shot from Luis Valbuena, who had the audacity to get a little excited and flip his bat. This did not please Fiers. He expressed this displeasure by throwing at Valbuena’s head. That backfired for Fiers…
It sometimes feels almost cruel that the brilliance of Mike Trout is so often wasted on moments and games that seem wholly irrelevant, which is why it’s such a joy to finally see an at least semi-competitive Angels team in a season that’s shaping up as Trout’s best yet. (Time spent on the disabled list be damned.)…
The Rangers and Angels were joined by a very special guest on the infield tonight: a pigeon, who hobbled around with a seemingly injured wing until someone was finally brave enough to step up to the plate and rescue the poor creature by himself. That would be Texas manager Jeff Banister, who scooped the bird up and…
Today was Mike Trout’s 26th birthday. He recorded his 1,000th hit. He hit a home run. He remains so spectacularly talented to be almost boringly so, with no indication that he will develop any flaws soon. Here are his teammates, celebrating this glorious day by dumping all manner of stuff upon his head:
The Angels achieved perhaps the weirdest sort of walk-off win tonight—the walk-off strikeout, pushing them to a 3-2 win over the Dodgers in the ninth inning.
