The Los Angeles Angels suffered a series-opening loss on Monday night against the Kansas City Royals behind multi-RBI games from Salvador Perez and Paul DeJong. The loss dropped manager Ron Washington’s Angels to 53-72 on the year, the farthest below .500 they’ve been since Sep. 17, 2022. It gave the Royals, though, their 70th win of the season.
The Royals had finished below .500 in every season since 2017. They finished with over 100 losses in three of the last six seasons, including 106 losses in 2023. But now, they sit in the third American League wild card spot with a high probability of making the Playoffs. And while that may mean the Angels don’t have a good chance of winning this series, it could provide some hope.
The Angels and Royals have gone through similar woes over the last handful of seasons, and Washington sees the parallels between their situations as a beacon of hope for Angels fans, according to Jackson Stone of MLB.com:
“The young kids we have out there, they’re performing very well,” Washington said pregame. “But if that’s going to be who they are, they’re going to have to show it to us again, and again, and again. And I think people here in Kansas City know what I’m talking about because that same group over there was getting [beat], and now they figured it out. We are going through that same process.”
The Angels lost, but got a home run from Zach Neto, his 18th of the season. They got an RBI double from Jo Adell, another sign of his progression. Logan O’Hoppe looks to be a bona fide MLB player behind the plate, and they have some intriguing pitchers in the forms of Jose Soriano, Victor Mederos, Caden Dana, George Klassen and more.
L.A. may not be one year away the way the Royals were last season, but they have all the pieces in place to try and make something happen in 2025 or 2026. And they can use the rest of their series in Kansas City to determine the blueprint to make it a reality.
Angels place Jose Soriano on IL
The Angels placed starting pitcher Jose Soriano on the 15-day injured list on Saturday due to right arm fatigue. Soriano was removed from his start on Friday against the Atlanta Braves after 3.2 innings due to fatigue, and manager Ron Washington did so in an effort to avoid further injury.
Soriano has been one of the Angels’ best and most consistent pitchers this season after beginning the year not in the Major League rotation. He has a 3.42 ERA and 1.204 WHIP with a 126 ERA+ in 113 innings of work. He missed some time due to an abdominal infection, but has been strong when available.
