What EXACTLY Are The Angels Doing Wrong: 3 Areas The Angels Are Struggling In
May 23, 2025 - Written by Zac Holladay
Photo Credit : @Angels - X
As of May 22nd, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a record of 24-25 and have completely gone downhill in the last month of play. Very little is worth mentioning so far in the direction of positivity with this team. And as of now, they haven’t shown any sort of consistency within their bullpen, starting pitching, or offense. Before their 7 game win streak, this team hasn’t been worth watching for multiple reasons. But before we dive into the negatives, let’s acknowledge the upsides to this team and what has worked so far this season.
On the offense, the most consistent bat has been Zach Neto. Since starting the season a little late, he, in 31 games, has hit .296 with 8 home runs and 19 runs driven in. His impact on this team has made them better ever since he returned and gave the team the boost they have needed to stick around where they are now. And, despite only playing 31 games, he has stolen 8 bases which leads the team. It is no doubt that Neto’s bat and glove play a huge part in the dugout and in the organization.
On the pitching side, Tyler Anderson has returned to last year's form and has spun together multiple quality starts giving the Angels the best chance to win every time. In 10 games this season, he has thrown 55.0 innings, providing a 3.60 ERA and striking out 43. He’s averaging over 5 innings a start and hadn’t pitched less than 5 innings in a game prior to yesterday. His veteran presence is crucial to this teams success and he has proven why he is one of the more underrated signings by Perry Minasian. And while he doesn’t strikeout many, his longevity on the mound is very valuable to the team.
Now, here are the 3 in-depth skills that are missing from this Angels team:
Hitting w/ RISP: Driving in runners has been a major struggle for the Halos this season. Instead of looking for a rally, they tend to seek one or two big hits to hold them over for the whole game. The Angels rank 29th in walks and rank 2nd among the league in strikeouts. Their ability to get on base and push runs across the plate is horrible and very hard to watch. While they also rank last in runners left on base, they also hit more solo home runs than most. Their lack of success to drive runners in is something that really hurts them.
Avoiding big pitching implosions: Angels starting pitching hasn’t been nearly as terrible as it has been in past years. They give the team a chance to win, but it only takes one bad inning for them to fall apart. And this is true for the bullpen, too. There is a pattern in which the pitchers don’t just give up the lead, but they completely fall apart and let the game get far away from them.
Holding Leads: While the team, at times, will score little amounts of runs in their dry spouts, giving up the lead they just gained is very difficult for this team. This is the effect of one of the problems of the inability to finish off hitters (especially with 2 outs).
In the last 7 games, in which the Angels have won 7 straight, they have scored 5 or more runs in 6 of those games. Overall, the Angels have a record of 17-3 when they score 5 or more runs in a game. So, the ultimate takeaway here is that the Angels will give up runs due to their poor pitching. But when the offense shows up and battles every game out to the end, they will win ball games. It’s just a matter of how long can each bat stay hot?
The starting pitching isn’t amazing by any means, but it is good enough to keep them within reach. And the bullpen is nowhere near effective as a whole right now. But no one can stay terrible forever. As the season progresses, manager Ron Washington will have the job of playing the hot hand on a very frequent basis. But the Halos will only win games if they score lots of runs. And while that seems very self-explanatory, it deems true as the pitching hasn’t shown any consistency. The offense has a big chip on its shoulder if the Angels wish to sniff a playoff push.
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