The Angel Question

     On September 29, the Los Angeles Angels played the Seattle Mariners. Mike Trout had an excellent game, going 2-for-3 with a walk and two homers in an 6-5 Angel Victory. The only problem was that the game meant nothing. The White Sox had eliminated the Angels the night before on a walk-off shot from Nicky Delmonico. Days like that were nothing new for Los Angeles who, since Trout became a star in 2011, have appeared in the postseason once, in 2014 when they were swept in the ALDS by the Royals.
     Those years have been frustrating to watch, not even as an Angels fan but just as baseball fan, seeing a front office bungle their opportunities with a generational talent. The stretch began before Trout was a part of the plans in the offseason of 2011, when they signed Albert Pujols to a 10-year, 240 million dollar deal. This was a fine move at the time; Pujols was the undisputed best player in baseball and even if it was too many years, that's the kind of thing you need to do for the best. In 2012, behind Trout and a still very good Pujols, they went 89-and-73 but missed the playoffs, finishing behind the A's and Rangers in a tough AL West.
     That offseason they signed what they thought would be the missing piece: star outfielder Josh Hamilton. The front office hoped Hamilton would help compensate for a shaky pitching staff that had benefitted from trading for the now-Dodger by this point Zack Greinke at the previous deadline. He did not. Hamilton dropped off in every statistical category from the previous year, while the staff posted a collective 4.24 ERA and gave up the third most homers in baseball.
     It was at this point the even bigger problems began manifesting. Los Angeles had lost their first round draft picks as compensation when they signed Pujols and Hamilton. They also traded three of their top prospects to Milwaukee for Greinke earlier that year. In short, their farm system was bare. At ESPN, Keith Law placed their system dead last in his annual rankings. Yes, I did just cite Keith Law in a column. This is weird. Let's move on.
     The Halos finally broke through in 2014 thanks to some (finally) decent pitching. However, that core didn't even last through the season. Garrett Richards had emerged as a legitimate ace, going 13-and-4 with a 2.61 ERA until ending his season with an ugly knee injury in August. Elsewhere on the staff, Hector Santiago had a solid season, but his underlying numbers showed a somewhat lucky pitcher with a FIP almost half a run higher than his ERA. The team ended up stumbling down the stretch, going 5-9 to end the regular season and getting swept by the Orioles in the ALDS.
     They missed the playoffs 2015, due in large part to the pitching regressing.
     The Angels finally started showing signs of life last year. Andrelton Simmons came around to provide enough pop at shortstop to be a formidable hitter as well as the best fielder in the league. Trout had his characteristically great season, even though he missed a month with an injury. General Manager Billy Eppler followed that up with a masterful offseason, re-signing trade deadline aquisition Justin Upton, trading for Ian Kinsler, signing Zack Cozart and, of course, signing Shohei Ohtani. The way Upton finished 2017 combined with Cozart and Ohtani's power can create a devastating middle of the order combination along with Trout. The only question mark here is- stop me if you've heard this one before- the pitching.
     Notice I didn't say it was bad. I said it was a question mark. Ohtani is suppose to be a stud (I'm a believer) but foreign prospects are always risky. Parker Bridwell had a solid 2017, posting a 3.65 ERA, but there's little to suggest he'll keep that going; He had a low strikeout and groundball rate coupled with a high fly ball rate tends to cause trouble. Richards hasn't ever completely recovered from that knee injury. He's hoping this will finally be the year he puts it behind him. Matt Shoemaker is another guy who's dealt with some injuries and hasn't shown his full potential. The Angles will put up plenty of runs and are certainly intriguing, but if the pitching doesn't come around, it will be just like every other year.

Same Movie, Different Ending

     I could see the montage that would play the next time the Vikings were in the playoffs. They'd be in a wildcard round game against the Rams or somebody when Fox would show all the heartbreaks the team endured over the course of some-twenty years. We'd see Gary Anderson's kick sail wide left, Favre force a ball over the middle and get intercepted by Tracey Porter, Blair Walsh miss a comically short field goal and then something from this game. I didn't know what it would be, maybe the blocked punt, maybe the coming field goal. All I knew for sure as the Drew Brees pass settled into Willy Snead's hands to convert a backbreaking fourth-and-ten with 37 seconds left was that there would be something.
     Twelve game seconds later Wil Lutz kicked what looked like a game-winning field goal and the game was over. When they started the drive off with a terrible false start penalty on over half the offensive line I didn't even care. The game was over. I had seen too many Vikings playoff heartbreaks to imagine the Vikings pulling this off. Then Keenum hit Diggs for 19, bringing the ball to the 39. The next two plays saw the line not holding up, and we were still at the 39 with ten seconds left. I was thinking there was a maybe five percent shot at a throw to the sidelines to get out of bounds, setting up an agonizing Kai Forbath field goal attempt. My point is, the possibility of a touchdown never crossed my mind.
     Keenum took the snap, dropped back and seemed the ball seemed to float toward the bottom right part of the TV screen. As Diggs came down with the ball, my friend Andy yelled, "get out of bounds!" I was thinking the same thing. Again, it was the only possibility in my mind. But then he didn't get out of bounds. He started running. And no one else was on the screen. It was at this point I began having an out-of-body experience. I wasn't watching Diggs sprint down the sidelines. I was watching myself watch Diggs. I think I may have been standing up and jumping, but I'm not sure. I didn't regain consciousness until Diggs was triumphantly throwing his helmet off to the side.
     The four friends I was with and I spent a few minutes celebrating like someone had just hit a walk-off homer. We hugged, jumped up and down, someone got tackled into the couch. Eventually things calmed down and we just ended up sitting on that couch, happily stunned. Every few seconds someone would say something like, "I can't believe that happened" or just let out a laugh.
     As a Vikings fan, even as I was reflecting six hours later, I just couldn't believe how it all worked out. Keenum put the throw exactly where he needed. Diggs made the catch, didn't get hit or step out of bounds. There were no dumb penalties on the play. For once we weren't team walking off in shocked disappointment. For once, we came out on top in a weird, back and forth playoff game. For once, the Vikings had shocked the world.