The popular picks are always the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, but my pick and the least media-drawn team is the Los Angeles Angels. Sure, I might be from Los Angeles, but I can assure you this is not a biased pick. The Angels have been at the top of the AL west division all season unlike the Yankees and have a very solid pitching staff, batting order and defense.
The Angels also thrive under pressure, which showed during the regular-season when they went 25-19 in one-run games and 8-3 in extra-inning games compared to Boston’s 22-28 in one-run games and 3-7 in extra-inning games and the Yankees 18-21 and 6-10.
One thing that might hurt the Angels is that they have no momentum going into the playoffs winning just four of their last 10 games while the Yankees, Indians and red Sox all won six of their last 10. Another thing that people will get on the Angels about is their “weak” division with Oakland and Texas, but both of those teams finished above two teams in each of the AL central and east divisions.
The Angels are all healthy and will be lead on the mound by 19-9 pitcher John Lackey and 18-7 pitcher Kelvim Escobar. Also closer Francisco Rodriguez completed 40 of 46 save opportunities this season and Justin Speier has a 2.88 ERA in 51 appearances out of the bullpen.
On offense the Angels are led by the big man, Vladimir Guerrero who finished with 27 homerun’s and 125 RBI’s and veteran Garret Anderson who slugged 16 homers and drove-in 80 RBI’s.
In the first round the Angels play against the Red Sox, which should be the best opening round series of all four. Both teams have strong pitching, offense and defense, but I pick the Angels to win in four games over the SOX. The great-minded and strategist manager, Mike Scioscia of the Angels will out think Tony Francona and lead the Angels back to the ALCS.
They will most likely meet the Yankees, who will go back to their playoff struggles and the Angels will find their way back to the World Series. Where the combined veteran and youth talented ball club will most likely outslug the Cubs or Rox.
When the Angels won the World Series back in 2002 against the San Francisco Giants, they didn’t win it on pitching or power, but by strategy. Angels manager Scioscia is a former all-star catcher and loves to play small ball.
Also another key to the Angels success of the years has been their team chemistry and they have no super-star yet every player contributes night-in and night-out.
The Angels will bring the title back to the west coast this year.
