If the Angels are trying to find a bright spot in a 100-loss 2026 season, the best place to start is the run differential. They were outscored by 97 runs, which is still ugly, but it was a clear step forward from 2025, when they were buried by 164 runs. Even more of those losses were tight ones: more than 30% came by a single run.
That matters because it points to a team that wasn’t getting blown out every night so much as bleeding games in the margins. And those margins were especially painful at the spots where clubs are supposed to get stability - second base, third base and the bullpen.
Second base was a revolving door of veteran placeholders and rookies trying to survive on the job. The Angels never found the kind of on-base presence that can settle a lineup down, and opposing pitchers took full advantage. The result was a 68.2% team chase rate and a 28.1% whiff rate, numbers that put the club among the least disciplined offenses in the league.
Oswald Peraza brought strong defense and got off to a hot start with the bat, but his season unraveled late. He struck out 30% of the time, barely walked, and finished with a .226/.282/.334 line that checked in 24% below MLB average by wRC+.
Vaughn Grissom was the other end of that equation: his bat was supposed to be the selling point, but his defense was rough and the offense never really carried the load either. His slugging percentage landed at .387.
Christian Moore had his own uneven stretch, looking overmatched for most of his run before catching fire in the final week. Even with that late push, second base remains a major issue heading into the 2027 offseason.
Third base has been a problem for this franchise for a long time, and 2026 didn’t break the pattern. Outside of Troy Glaus and, in a different way, Chone Figgins, the Angels have cycled through hopefuls without finding a real long-term answer. There’s hope that Baseball America’s Angels prospect of the year, Jake Munroe, could eventually change that, but not yet.
For now, the position was handled by Yoan Moncada as another stopgap experiment, and it went badly. He struggled on both sides of the ball before getting hurt again, and his .189/.308/.297 line was nowhere near good enough for the hot corner. The season likely closes the book on Moncada getting Major League deals.
Then there was Denzer Guzman, the 22-year-old who came in with a reputation for his glove and plenty of questions about his bat. He was learning a new position on the fly at the highest level and managed to hold his own defensively, but the offense lagged behind. He struck out nearly five times for every walk and posted a 68 wRC+, a number that simply won’t cut it without better plate discipline.
And then there’s the bullpen, which may have been the clearest symbol of how much work still needs to be done.
The Angels’ saves leader finished with five. He only took over that role in the last week, after the previous leader - a pitcher who was released on April 28th - had already held it. That alone tells you how unstable things were.
Perry Minasian’s track record in the bullpen stands out for all the wrong reasons. The Angels burned $33 million on Robert Stephenson, drafted a wave of college relievers only to move many of them back into starting roles in the minors, and repeatedly left themselves needing outside help with very little money to spend.
Even when they had a workable pair in Brock Burke and Kenley Jansen, they traded Burke for a bad outfielder and let Jansen leave in free agency. Then they signed four retreads for the same contract Jansen received, and three of those pitchers were gone by May.
As a group, the bullpen finished with 21 saves and 27 blown saves, a 4.47 ERA that ranked 24th in MLB, 258 walks and 558 hits allowed. Traffic on the bases was the story as much as anything else.
Without a dependable anchor, the Angels kept shuffling roles and chasing answers that never showed up. Of all the holes on the roster, the bullpen looks like the biggest job on the list at the Major League level.
In Other News...
The Angels Figure Who Helped Build 2002 Core Is Being Remembered
Bob Fontaine Jr., the longtime Angels scouting director from 1987 to 1999, died in Arizona at the age of 73, and his name is surfacing again for the role he played in building pieces of the club that would later win the 2002 World Series. Fontaines career stretched well beyond Anaheim, but for Angels fans, his imprint is tied to the patient work of identifying talent and helping lay the foundation for a championship core.
The Angels joined other voices around baseball in paying tribute to Fontaines influence on player development and scouting, a reminder that much of a title run begins long before October. His legacy now sits in the quieter, less visible part of the franchises history, in the evaluations and decisions that helped shape a roster that would eventually reach the sports biggest stage. [Read more 🡒]
3 Angels Enter A Crucial Proving Ground Before Anaheim Changes
The Angels are still living in the long middle of a franchise reset, with the ownership transfer to Stan Kroenke not expected to close until early 2027. For now, that leaves the roster in a transitional holding pattern, where every bit of progress matters and the next wave of decisions is never far away. It also puts a spotlight on a few players whose paths are tied closely to how Anaheim looks by then.
Ryan Johnson, Moises Ballesteros and Zach Neto are among the names to watch as that deadline approaches, each facing a crucial proving ground in 2027. Their recent performances have given the Angels reasons to keep paying attention, but the challenge is turning flashes into something more durable while the organization sorts out its direction. For players in that kind of uncertain window, the margin for error is thin, and the coming season could go a long way toward deciding who fits when the next era arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Angels May Be Reaching A Tough Truth About Nolan Schanuel
Nolan Schanuel has settled in as the Angels first baseman since late 2023, and his 2026 season was easily his strongest yet. He gave the club a steady left-handed bat, hit for average, reached base at a solid clip and turned in a 2.1 bWAR season in 107 games, the kind of production that still matters in a lineup looking for stability.
Even so, the fit at first base can be tricky because Schanuels game is built more around contact than impact. He struck out at a low rate and kept the ball in play, but he also finished with only seven home runs, and that kind of power shortage is hard to ignore at a position where big extra-base production is usually expected. With three years of team control left, the Angels do not have to make any immediate decisions, but they may eventually have to decide whether his steady approach is enough or whether they need to look for more punch at first. [Read more 🡒]