Most enjoyable Aug-Sep Angels Baseball in years
I'm honestly enjoying late season Angels baseball for the first time in a long time.
Yes, the team has been playing better lately. Ureña, Detmers, and Klassen have been giving us consistent starts, Trout is surging again, and we're finally getting some of our guys back from injury. But for me, it's more than that.
Ever since one of the most active trade deadlines we've had in years, these games have felt different. Not because we're chasing a playoff spot. We're still a long way from that. But for the first time in a while, it feels like we have permission to have fun watching this team in August and September because there's genuine hope.
Hope that the foundation is finally starting to take shape. Hope that a few smart moves this offseason can make us a much better team next year. Hope that we can at least go 13-22 for the rest of the season to avoid our first 100-loss season.
I feel like I have those reasons to tune in every night and cheer these guys on. The games matter again for me, even if not in the traditional postseason sense.
Maybe I'm just coping after years of Angel trauma, but I haven't felt this way about an Angels team this late in the season for quite a while. I hope I'm not the only one, and I hope we finish this season with a different feeling than we've had in recent years.