Who are the Angels' Rivals?

[m0nkey]

I'm watching the Yankees and Red Sox playing, and it made me think of who the Angels', or Angels fans', rivals are, if any.

I don't think there really is one at the moment.

[tdawg87]

Themselves.

[jordan]

I’d say Dodgers, mostly for bragging rights. But as far as AL West goes, I’d have to go with the A’s because those games are always so tight.  Next would be the Rangers IMO.  As far as the teams, I hate the most...Dodgers, Red Sox, Mariners. 

[ScottT]

I dont think rivals exist much anymore. More teams make the playoffs so division rivals arent fighting for one or even two playoff spots... three teams from one division can make it. 

Players switch teams a lot. That contributes to a friendlier environment.  Social media contributes too ....they can all bond easier over the crap they get from that.

Sports in general has become much friendlier. Athletes have a lot more to lose now. Hockey fights are rare. Baseball is cracking down on nonsense. All leagues are, really. That is partly in response to always evolving social norms.

 

[T.G.]

I started going to Angels games in the mid to late 60's and I've always considered the A's their rivals.

[floplag]

Whoever we happen to be playing on a given day?  We've never been relevant enough to have a rival.  dont get me wrong i dont mean that as a blast it just that i dont think anyone sees us that way as much as i dont see any other team that way. 
Back in the day i would have said KC but that ended when they moved to the central so... 

[AngelsLakersFan]

I personally link the team with the A's most. During the Angels best run Oakland was the only other consistently good team in the division and every one of those games mattered. 

The Rangers and Angels have never really been good at the same time, and Houston is too new. Seattle and the Angels have a bit of a rivalry but outside of '95 they haven't really been good at the same time either. Seattle was great from '95 through '03 and after that is when the Angels and Oakland really took off.

[Angelsjunky]

The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry might be the most storied in not only baseball but sports history. It goes back a century at least and has its roots in the cities themselves. So there really is no comparison.

But there are always rivalries, and I think it is whoever happens to be the Angels' main competition for the division.

Growing up in the 80s, I remember fearing the Royals the most - back when KC was in the AL West, and probably the best team in the division during that decade. But the Royals faded in the late 80s (George Brett got old), and then it became the great Athletics teams of 88-92.

The divisions split in '94, with only four teams in the AL West for years: the Angels, Rangers, Mariners, and A's. The Angels pretty much sucked the whole decade, so any "rivalry" was mostly one-sided. But the Mariners did what they did in '95, and the Rangers were the best team in the latter half of the decade...but I wouldn't call either a rivalry. The A's then resurged under Billy Beane and were their biggest rival for the first half of the "Golden Era" of 2002-09, but faded in 2007 and beyond. The Angels didn't really have a rival then (remember 2008, when they won 100 games and finished 21 games ahead?).

Since then the Angels haven't really been good enough to have a rival. When the Astros joined the division in 2013, we were all applauded the "Lastros" to beat up on. They went 51-111 that year. Two years later and they're a contender; the last two years, they're one of the best teams in baseball.

But it is hard calling the Astros the main rival because there isn't a lot of history. When I think of the Angels' rivals, it is mostly the Athletics probably first, then the Mariners and Rangers in some order...at least over the last three decades. Before that the Royals.

[Angelsjunky]

From a SoCal outsider's perspective, there seems to be a "turf rivalry" with the Dodgers that I don't experience at all, having never lived in metro LA. It reminds me a bit of how Mets fans view the Yankees: a bit of a hostile inferiority complex to a far more successful franchise with a much richer legacy. But I like underdogs, so find it fondly amusing.

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

From a SoCal outsider's perspective, there seems to be a "turf rivalry" with the Dodgers that I don't experience at all, having never lived in metro LA. It reminds me a bit of how Mets fans view the Yankees: a bit of a hostile inferiority complex to a far more successful franchise with a much richer legacy. But I like underdogs, so find it fondly amusing.

Total WS trophies since 1989:

Angels - 1

Dodgers - 0

Edge: Lowell

[daygloman]

38 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I'm watching the Yankees and Red Sox playing, and it made me think of who the Angels', or Angels fans', rivals are, if any.

I don't think there really is one at the moment.

I consider Oaktown our best rival. 

I consider the ALW our rivals. 

There are teams I like beating the shit out of considerably, but those are personal rivals from annoying times at the park!

I don't consider the Dodgers our rivals, and never have.

[goldenGlove]

4 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

From a SoCal outsider's perspective, there seems to be a "turf rivalry" with the Dodgers that I don't experience at all, having never lived in metro LA. It reminds me a bit of how Mets fans view the Yankees: a bit of a hostile inferiority complex to a far more successful franchise with a much richer legacy. But I like underdogs, so find it fondly amusing.

Turf rivalry seems like a good term for it. In my experience, it's usually Dodgers fans starting shit and making it about territory and nothing about actual baseball. This is why I think many Angels fans hate the Dodgers, nothing to do with their "rich" history or whatever. Also, the Mets/Yankees comparison would prob be more accurate if the Angels hadn't won it all far more recently than the Dodgers

[Angelsjunky]

12 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Total WS trophies since 1989:

Angels - 1

Dodgers - 0

Edge: Lowell

True, true. But unlike grunge music, baseball didn't begin in 1989. The Dodgers have six WS trophies, five LA.

But if we want to talk recent years:

Postseason appearances, Trout Era:

Angels: 1

Dodgers: 6

Edge: Puig

[Claude]

Definitely the Oakland A’s for our division rivals. The Dodgers are our intercity rivals. So we have both. 

 

[tdawg87]

Just now, Calzone 2 said:

The Dodgers are our intercity rivals.

[Pancake Bear]

Right now, the Mariners are the division rival I most hate to lose to, largely because of Dipooto and how he destroyed Trout’s prime years through pure ineptitude. For the rest, I haven’t really considered Houston a big rival, and the Dodgers one is based more on location than any real bad blood, so that one is meaningless to me. The A’s make a lot of sense, but the Rangers were a big rival a few years ago. 

[Jay]

12 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Total WS trophies since 1989:

Angels - 1

Dodgers - 0

Edge: Lowell

Angels fans calling out the Dodgers for postseason futility is the weakest smack in the history of smack.

 

[Claude]

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

Angels fans calling out the Dodgers for postseason futility is the weakest smack in the history of smack.

 

The Dodgers have played in 66 postseason games the past six seasons and our Angels have played in three. Win or lose I would gladly accept the continued postseason excitement. It sucks not to be part of the conversation in October and many times earlier than that.

[Stradling]

It’s the arrogance of Dodger fans I don’t care for.  I especially love when 30 year old Dodgers talk about their history when they’ve never seen them win a WS.  

[jordan]

I never actually knew which team I hated more, Red Sox or Dodgers, until last WS. Hands down, it’s the Dodgers. 

[Claude]

36 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It’s the arrogance of Dodger fans I don’t care for.  I especially love when 30 year old Dodgers talk about their history when they’ve never seen them win a WS.  

We have to be careful about waving our 2002 flag too long. If the Dodgers win it all this season, do we then have to all shut up about 2002 or do we then turn our attention to waving that flag at the A’s, Rangers and Mariners. I think at some point you have to put your old flag down and capture a new one. The Oakland A’s have four championships with the last one in 1989. They stopped talking about it years ago. 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Calzone 2

[eligrba]

The Angels biggest rival is the Curse.

[eaterfan]

The Angels are unrivaled. 

[halomatt]

Doctor's offices.

[Stradling]

37 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

We have to be careful about waving our 2002 flag too long. If the Dodgers win it all this season, do we then have to all shut up about 2002 or do we then turn our attention to waving that flag at the A’s, Rangers and Mariners. I think at some point you have to put your old flag down and capture a new one. The Oakland A’s have four championships with the last one in 1989. They stopped talking about it years ago. 

Well if I saw a 16 year old Angel fan talking about 2002, I would feel the same way as the 30 year old talking about the Dodgers.