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Looking at where the Angels stand right now, a little over a week into August, and it’s hard not to get a little weepy. This year’s team is the textbook definition of “unremarkable”, at least in terms of positive takeaways. Where they ARE remarkable, though, is their potential to be an historically bad Angels team.
I’m genuinely curious if they’re going to be holding any new, dubious team records. For instance, the Angels currently have a record of 49-63, with 50 games left on the season. If they just went .500 from here on out, they’d probably end up with 74 wins...not quite enough to put them in the Angels seasonal record book (they’d have to get around 66 or 67 losses to get in the picture there) , but hey...there’s still plenty time, right?
They have also used 25 pitchers to date. The team record for most pitchers used in a season is 29 (2014 and 1996). If recently-claimed Brett Oberholtzer gets any playing time, he could be #26...so close to having the season live on in infamy. Will they get there?
The Angels current number for most GIDPs in a season is 148 (1996 again...what a bad year. They also had the franchise worst ERA of 5.30 in ‘96), and right now, the Angels have an MLB-leading 110 GIDPs. Can they get 39 more GIDPs over the next 50 games?
It’s frustrating to see some of these abysmal 2016 numbers coming close to the worst seasons the organization has ever put up, but at the same time, it’s kind of intriguing to see just how historically bad they can be. Either way, it can all be chalked up to bad front office moves and a TON of injuries, especially to the starting arms...which is to say that no matter how bad things get, Mike Scioscia has lots of crutches to prop himself up with for at least another season.
Where do you see the Angels ending up, in terms of W’s and L’s? Are there any franchise-worst marks that they’ll be in striking distance of in the coming weeks?