Our competition for the Wild Card next season

[mmc]

Barring something major happening, I think it’s safe to say the Yankees and Astros are the favorites for the AL East and West.  So which teams do you expect to be in contention for Wild Card spots along with the Angels next season, and how do you think our roster fares alongside them? 
 

The teams I see being our main competition are the incumbent Rays and A’s, along with the Indians, Twins, White Sox (one of these teams will win the AL Central), and Rangers, with the Blue Jays, and Red Sox also have an outside shot.

As it stands, I don’t think there is any way this team is better than the Rays.  Glasnow, Snell, and Morton are better than any starter on this team, I think their bullpen is much better, and their offense is good in their own right as well.  The A’s I don’t really think look better on paper than the Angels, but they finished much better last year and didn’t exactly lose anyone important, and their rotation has very high upside.  The Rangers are hard for me to get a read on, their rotation looks much better than ours, but I’m not certain they have enough offense to get them into the playoffs.  Of course, they are still in the market for big name offensive players, so this could change.  The Twins just won 100 games, and didn’t really lose anyone outside of Gibson and Dyson.  They are in the hunt for Josh Donaldson and I think will win the division, thus I expect the Indians and White Sox to be WC contenders.  The White Sox have made big improvements, but it’s hard to predict how they’ll finish.  Big rookie seasons from Madrigal, Robert, and Kopech, plus strides from Cease and Lopez and this team can be very dangerous.  They have the potential to be better than us, but it’s hard to predict how likely it is.  The Indians are hard to predict, as it’s still unclear what the future is for Clevinger and Lindor.  If they trade both,  I expect our roster to be better, but if they keep both, or even just Clevinger, their rotation and bullpen will be better than ours, with Bieber, Clevinger (if he stays), Civale, Plesac, and Carrasco.  
 

Then we have the Red Sox and Blue Jays, who seem to have every intention of competing, but are undergoing a massive roster overhaul.  Boston finished higher than the Angels last season, but if they move Betts and one or more of Price and Sale, then I think we will be better.  Hard to say until we see who’s still on the roster come opening day.  The Blue Jays added Ryu, Roark, and Yamaguchi to help their pitching, and will be getting a full season of Bichette, plus another year of development for Vlad, Biggio, and their young outfielders and catchers.  I don’t think they’re better than the Angels yet, but they could surprise.

Right now, I think the Angels have a shot at the Wild Card, but there are too many other teams of the same caliber or slightly better for me to really confidently predict them to land one.

What do you expect our competition to be?

[ukyah]

the angels are an anything goes team right now. maybe everything goes well and we sneak in as a wild card, or maybe they're around five hundred. i doubt that they tank again like last year, but that's a reasonable possibility, as well. i don't think them being a juggernaut is realistic. so, i see their competition as every other team in baseball that isn't trying to tank this year.

[floplag]

Ask me again in March, im 100% sure we will be better then than we are now.
Right now, youre basically right though.

[mmc]

15 minutes ago, floplag said:

Ask me again in March, im 100% sure we will be better then than we are now.
Right now, youre basically right though.

I plan on updating this periodically as AL teams make their moves yeah.  Right now I’m uncertain we’ll be competing, but there’s still plenty of time for us (and our competition) to really improve their teams

[ksangel]

Angels are their own competition.

In order to compete for a wild card spot Upton and Simons have to stay healthy and productive, Ohtani has to make strides towards being a front line pitcher, Adell has to develop into an everyday right fielder, Canning and Sandoval have to develop into solid mid-rotation options and Eppler has to find a front line catcher and a pitcher to slot in with Ohtani at top of rotation. 

[BackUpTheTruck]

TB, MIN, CHW, CLE, OAK, TEX

If Tampa wins 1st WC, and MIN wins their division, we're looking at:

CHW, CLE, OAK, TEX

I like our chances!

[Taylor]

Our biggest competitor next season:

 

Ourselves

[wopphil]

47 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Our biggest competitor next season:

 

Ourselves

Agreed. The talent is on the roster to win 100 games. They just need to play to their abilities and stay healthy.

[JustATroutFan]

Angels starting rotation. Thanks, Eppler! 

[ukyah]

3 hours ago, wopphil said:

Agreed. The talent is on the roster to win 100 games. They just need to play to their abilities and stay healthy.

more power to you, but this is extreme homerism. there is no way this team will be projected to win anywhere close to 100 games by any model as they stand now, even with the addition of a decent catcher like chirinos or castro.

[tdawg87]

12 minutes ago, ukyah said:

more power to you, but this is extreme homerism. there is no way this team will be projected to win anywhere close to 100 games by any model as they stand now, even with the addition of a decent catcher like chirinos or castro.

That's cool. Good thing the games are played on the field.

[Justin]

The A's won 97 games despite being tied with Boston for the most blown saves in all of baseball, 31. I am expecting their bullpen to be better next season and them to win the division and Houston to be the 1st wild card team.

[wopphil]

7 hours ago, ukyah said:

more power to you, but this is extreme homerism. there is no way this team will be projected to win anywhere close to 100 games by any model as they stand now, even with the addition of a decent catcher like chirinos or castro.

I didnt say I expect them to win 100, nor do I think Eppler should be satisfied with them team as constructed.

But it was as recently as 2018 that Simmons, Upton, and Heaney were all very good players. If those guys show up, if Ohtani is healthy enough to throw 120 innings, and if Bundy/Teheran pitch similar to how they have pitched the last 2 years, this team easily wins 90+ games.

As for the projection models, can you find one that had the Twins winning 100 games last year?

[Stradling]

3 hours ago, SoPas Angel said:

The A's won 97 games despite being tied with Boston for the most blown saves in all of baseball, 31. I am expecting their bullpen to be better next season and them to win the division and Houston to be the 1st wild card team.

Blown saved isn’t a great stat. Blown saves doesn’t mean they lost the game. 

[eligrba]

12 hours ago, JustATroutFan said:

Angels starting rotation. Thanks, Eppler! 

 

7 hours ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

This team isn’t even 1st WC material on paper. 

You both sound bitter, angry and sad over such trivial matters.  I hope you both are better dealing with life than with this. 

I simply selected these two posts to respond to but could have selected just about any of your posts to make this point.

Edited December 26, 2019 by eligrba

[Blarg]

29 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Blown saved isn’t a great stat. Blown saves doesn’t mean they lost the game. 

Leading the league in blown saves isn't something to ignore. 

[T.G.]

Anaheim Ducks

[halonatic13]

Our real competition next season will be staying healthy.  That's it.  We do that?  We are in the playoffs.

[Stradling]

13 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Leading the league in blown saves isn't something to ignore. 

No of course not.  

[Roy Hobbs]

4 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

I’m able to separate baseball from real life believe it or not. I’m fine. 

That's got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read.

[Stradling]

10 minutes ago, Roy Hobbs said:

That's got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read.

What since he can’t separate real life from conspiracy theory life?   

[Justin]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Blown saved isn’t a great stat. Blown saves doesn’t mean they lost the game. 

I just think people should be prepared for how good Oakland is going to be this year. The assumption in the OP is that the Astros are the favorites in the West and that Oakland is going to be competing for the WC again. I see Oakland as being where Houston was 3 years ago: their tanking (from '15-'17) is about to pay off. Which makes Houston the competition for the WC. 

[Dick B Back]

I think the Angels WC competition next year will be every team except:

Baltimore

Detroit

Kansas City

The DiPotos

 

[Mark PT]

15 hours ago, ksangel said:

Angels are their own competition.

In order to compete for a wild card spot Upton and Simons have to stay healthy and productive, Ohtani has to make strides towards being a front line pitcher, Adell has to develop into an everyday right fielder, Canning and Sandoval have to develop into solid mid-rotation options and Eppler has to find a front line catcher and a pitcher to slot in with Ohtani at top of rotation. 

Correct, so basically we will be an 80 win, no playoff team.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Mark PT said:

Correct, so basically we will be an 80 win, no playoff team.

no, we won't be an 80 win team.