The Angels have 10 games left to protect one of baseball’s strangest bragging rights: they’ve never had a 100-loss season. To keep that streak alive, they need to finish 5-5.
That’s the line now for a club sitting at 58-94, a .382 winning percentage that makes the task feel plenty real. Los Angeles has also gone 5-9 in September, a stretch that included a pair of wins over the playoff-bound Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept. 8 and 9, only to have that momentum wiped away by three straight one-run losses to the Washington Nationals. The Angels did grab two of three from the Seattle Mariners earlier this week, which at least ensured Seattle won’t finish above .500.
The bigger picture around this franchise has been bleak for a long time. Since the 2002 World Series title, the Angels have had only brief pockets of success, including five AL West crowns in six seasons from 2004-09 and another division title in 2014, when Mike Trout won his first MVP award. That 2014 team was swept by the Royals in the ALDS, and the best finish since then came in 2017, when the Angels went 80-82 and started what will be 11 straight losing seasons once 2026 is done.
The club has had down years before, too, with 94-plus-loss seasons in 1968, 1974 and 1980. Even so, the Angels have always stayed out of the 100-loss club. Their nearest call came in 2024, when they got to win No. 63 in their 156th game before dropping their final six, including a three-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox, who were headed for a modern-day record 121 losses.
Now comes the final stretch, and it’s not a brutal one on paper. The Angels are home for four against the Minnesota Twins, then play two in West Sacramento against the A’s, before ending the season with four games in Seattle.
Minnesota entered Thursday at 71-81, the A’s at 61-91 and the Mariners at 71-82. There’s even a slim path to fourth place in the AL West if the Angels can make up three games on Oakland, which still has seven games left against the Guardians and Astros after its two-game set with Los Angeles.
The push starts tonight at the Big A, with Walbert Urena (9-10, 2.88 ERA) facing Minnesota’s Taj Bradley (11-6, 3.81 ERA). The rest of the series lines up with Connor Prielipp vs.
Grayson Rodriguez on Friday, Joe Ryan vs. Reid Detmers on Saturday and Dean Kremer vs.
Ryan Johnson on Sunday. After that, the Angels head north hoping to return on Sept. 27 with their streak intact.
In Other News...
Angels May Have Found A Bullpen Answer Nobody Saw Coming
Ryan Watson arrived in Anaheim in early August as a waiver claim from the Red Sox, the kind of low-profile move that usually only matters if a club is trying to patch together the back end of a bullpen. For the Angels, though, the pickup has turned into something more than a depth add. In 16 appearances since joining the team, Watson has given them steady late-inning work and quickly become one of the more effective arms in a relief mix that has struggled for much of the season.
The appeal is obvious for a club searching for reliable outs after the starters hand over the lead. Watson has trimmed his numbers sharply since the move, posting a 1.88 ERA and 0.98 WHIP, and he has earned a bigger role in the process. The larger question for the Angels is whether this is the start of a real bullpen answer or just a late-season burst from a pitcher who was barely on the radar a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Still Have One Roster Problem New Ownership Could Finally Address
Catching has quietly been one of the Angels nagging roster issues for years, and it has become even more pronounced with the recent trade of Logan OHoppe. For a club trying to stabilize its lineup and give its pitching staff a steadier target behind the plate, that makes the position one of the more obvious places to look if new ownership wants to make an immediate imprint.
One possible fit is Brandon Valenzuela, whose strong defensive season for the Blue Jays has put him on the radar as a trade candidate. Toronto already has Alejandro Kirk locked in on a long-term extension, which could make Valenzuela available if the Angels decide catching needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. The question is whether this front office sees him as the kind of upgrade worth pursuing, or whether the search for a long-term answer at the position continues into another offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Face A Tough Reid Detmers And Walbert Urena Decision
Reid Detmers and Walbert Urena have given the Angels something they havent had often enough this season: two young arms worth building around. Both pitchers have already established new career highs in innings, and each has helped steady a staff on a last-place team that has spent too much time trying to piece things together. Detmers has been especially sharp since the break, working to a 1.65 ERA with strong strikeout-to-walk numbers, while Urena has emerged as one of the clubs most encouraging breakout stories.
The challenge now is less about what they have done and more about how much the Angels should ask them to do from here. Urenas rise has put him in the mix for AL Rookie of the Year consideration, and Detmers has looked like a pitcher the organization can lean on for years to come, but both are also carrying more innings than they have before. For a team not playing for a postseason chase, the balancing act is clear: keep the development momentum going without pushing either arm too far. [Read more 🡒]