Recently, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his team is going to win the World Series.
He didn’t mean it in a cocky way: he is just confident about his players’ abilities and skills, as he should be.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles Angels‘ skipper Joe Maddon was confronted with a similar question, and while he wasn’t as bold as his colleague, he did say something that fans will surely love to hear.
“Today I mentioned to Joe Maddon that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts guaranteed a WS win. So, I asked him (jokingly), if he’d want to make the same guarantee. ‘I do think we’re going to make the playoffs. I’ll say that. “And then after that, our goal is to win it all.’,” The Athletic’s reporter covering the Angels, Sam Blum, tweeted.
Today I mentioned to Joe Maddon that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts guaranteed a WS win.
So, I asked him (jokingly), if he'd want to make the same guarantee.
"I do think we're going to make the playoffs. I'll say that.
"And then after that, our goal is to win it all."
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) April 6, 2022
Maddon is a World Series-winning manager with all the experience in the world, so he knows his team, its strengths, and weaknesses like no other person.
The Angels haven’t made the postseason since 2014, and that’s with the best player of our generation, Mike Trout, on the roster all these years.
So, hearing their manager say he thinks they will make the playoffs is actually refreshing.
Baseball Needs Trout And Ohtani In The Playoffs
Angels’ fans have had enough mediocrity: they want to see Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh, and the young prospects like Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh win a championship.
Do they have a shot to make it into October?
They do, but the Houston Astros remain elite and the Seattle Mariners are much improved, and that’s in the AL West alone.
The Angels recognized that pitching is an organizational-wide need, and focused to remedy the situation in the last couple of years, through the draft and via free agency.
They brought in talented starters Noah Syndergaard and Michael Lorenzen, plus relievers Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, and Archie Bradley.
Ohtani will be the ace, and the team has two solid hurlers in Patrick Sandoval and Jose Suarez, too.
Overall, the Angels seem well-positioned to fight for a playoff spot.
Will they make it?
Any neutral baseball fan would love to see them in, but it won’t be easy.
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