Michael: Hey what’s up everybody this is Michael Stephenson.
I’m on the Talon Marks newspaper at Cerritos College.
And today’s podcast is going to be called the blue and red podcast. But no, it’s not what you think it is.
We will not be talking about politics on this podcast. Probably will never talk politics on a podcast.
The red will be representing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, one of our local teams in Major League Baseball, and the blue of course will be represent the Los Angeles Dodgers.
My Los Angeles Dodgers right off the top I’m telling you where I stand.
Now, if I did that on a politics podcast, you might stop listening.
Or if you’re an Angels fan you probably should stop listening.
We’re going to break down some predictions, some offseason moves that both teams made and how they’re doing to start the season.
We’re only 13 games in the 2022 season.
Now let’s start from last year, the Los Angeles Angels finished 77-85. A disappointing season for a team that had the MVP Shohei Ohtani, took the baseball world by storm, the first two way player we’ve seen in 100 years.
Great pitcher even better hitter. But one man can’t do it all.
The Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2015 and even with the likes of Mike Trout who has three MVPs to his name, not even Ohtani and him could do it together.
In baseball, you got to have a whole team.
There’s a lot that goes into it.
You got to have a lineup that hits on a consistent basis.
You’ve got to have starting pitching that can keep you in ball games and then you got to have a bullpen to keep your lead and not give it up.
And that’s where the angels struggled last year. For the last couple of years, the Angels have not had the pitching to compete in the AL West division that they are in.
It’s not that tough of a division. The Astros have been to the ALCS I think, five or six times in the last decade, which is pretty impressive.
The Astros are another story we could talk about another day. We do not like the Astros on this podcast.
But can the angels finally turn it around going into the 2022 season? What did they do to improve their chances this offseason?
Well, they got pitching. They picked up a couple of guys who could help them this year. Noah syndergaard for one.
He’s been injured the last couple of years with the New York Mets. But when he was healthy, he was one of the more dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball. They signed a one-year contract, $23 million.
That’s a start.
So you have Ohtani on the mound every fifth day, you add Noah Syndergaard, they got a young didn’t name Reed Detmers, who was a top prospect at one point for them.
And then he got a couple of other young guys to fill out the rotation and another one they added Michael Lorenzen, who was a relief pitcher, a local kid from Fullerton, went to Cal State Fullerton.
They picked him up to try to give them some pitching depth. So they’re at least trying.
They also added some bullpen help Aaron Loup is and they re-signed one of the bright spots of the 2021 season, Rasiel Iglesias, the closer for the Angles.
So not all down on the angels.
There is a rivalry between the Angels and Dodgers.
That’s a Crosstown rivalry. They call it the freeway series.
And it’s fun.
I like the banter. I know a lot of Angels fans, they’ve gone through a rough patch over the last couple of years while the Dodgers, have been pretty awesome.
And they’ve been awesome because they spend money smartly, They develop young talent and when there’s a star on the market, they’re gonna go out and trade for them or they’re gonna give them the money to add to the roster.
So the Dodgers did lose a few guys this offseason and last year they won 106 games and you want to talk about a tough division.
The Dodgers finished 106-56 and they fell one game short of winning their own national league West Division.
That’s right. 106 wins.
Didn’t get the job done.
The Giants won 107.
They battled it out the entire year.
They did meet in the playoffs the Dodgers won in the first round series by five games and the Dodgers advanced to play the Atlanta Braves and the National League Championship Series where they lost in six games.
The Atlanta Braves had a guy named Freddie Freeman, the face of their franchise and this offseason, you know what the Dodgers did?
They added Freddie Freeman to their roster.
They give him a six-year $140 million contract.
That’s baseball money.
And they added him to an already dominant all-star studded roster.
You have Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and a couple of former MVPs in there.
The Dodgers won a World Series 2020.
That was their first in 30 years.
The last one came in 1988 and it was the first one I saw in my lifetime.
And I was there to witness it all. In Texas on October 27, 2020.
A day I’ll never forget.
But the Dodgers do need another one with all the talent they have. And they’re in the mix every year. But I’ll be honest, they should have a couple of more rings this year (and in years past).
So this year, they added Freddie Freeman in the offseason they lost a closer and Kenley Jansen, who was the all-time saves leader.
They lost Max Scherzer, who they acquired at the trade deadline last year, he left to be pitching for the Mets.
So if there’s a weakness that the Dodgers roster does have entering the 2022 season, I’d have to say it’s starting pitching. Behind Walker Buehler, who finished third in the Cy Young voting last year for best pitcher in the league.
You have Julio Urias who won 21 games and they have Clayton Kershaw, who’s won three CY Youngs and an MVP. But that was a long time ago.
Kershaw even on his down years, a lot of pitchers around baseball would take those years. That’s how good he’s been to the expectations we expect him to be great every single time but as he gets older, the Dodgers need a deeper starting rotation.
And when they lost Kenley Jansen they went out and got probably the best closer on the market, Craig Kimbrel, right before the 2022 season.
So that’s what the Dodgers did.
And if you’re a Dodgers fan, you know from April and September, 162 games, the regular season no longer matters.
The Dodgers are playing through October and if they could win the last game of the season, all of us rooting for the blue will be happy.
And if I had to ask myself, can I ever see myself rooting for the Angels?
The answer’s no.
But having to encounter a lot of Angels fans, especially working in Orange County, these fans need something to cheer about.
Because if I hear them talk about how great Trout is or how great Ohtani is any longer, I’m gonna lose my mind. I can’t take it anymore.
You got nothing to show for, you got a couple of individual awards, get into the postseason and then we could talk.
Then I will allow you to join the conversation with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But until then, I can’t take it.
