Next Season

[stormngt]

I am actually extremely surprised by the 2002 stats.  I had it in my head the Angels won with mediocre SP, solid BP, and solid offense.  I remember their offense being better than that for some reason.  

 

When you say the 2 teams before it are you saying the 2012 and 2013 Angels?  They scored more runs in 2014 than in 2012 or 2013.  They also were 11th in the AL in 2013 for team ERA.  In 2012 they had mediocre pitching (8th in AL), but solid hitting and they won 89 games and were excluded from the playoffs despite winning more games than the first place Tigers that year.  I haven't done enough research so you may be right.  Just from what I have seen it takes either average offense with great pitching or great offense with average overall pitching that includes a solid bullpen.  The Padres over the last few years (not this year) showed everyone a great pitching staff and no hitting won't get it done.  The Jays showed us great hitting and no pitching won't get it done.  I think the one thing that every successful team has (for the most part) is a good bull pen. Once again I haven't researched this in depth so these are just my observations.  But if you say there have been studies I'll take your word for it because you seem to be on top of it when it comes to stats.

One thing is for certain, the only time the Angels have made the playoffs is when they had a good bullpen.  When their bullpen sucked, so did the team.