If the Angels are looking for a silver lining in their 100 loss 2026 season it lies in the fact the team was only outscored by 97 runs. Despite not reflecting in the loss column, that was actually a huge improvement over the 2025 team which was outscored by 164 runs. Over 30% of the team’s losses were by a single run.
In baseball, very few players are capable of winning a game single handedly. But weak spots in lineups and weak links on the mound routinely cost teams games. Here are the biggest holes on the Angels roster as we head into the 2027 off season.
The Keystone Conundrum: Analyzing the Angels’ Lineup Black Hole at Second Base
The Angels cycled through a combination of veteran stopgaps and unproven rookies. The team’s inability to establish a high OBP presence at the keystone stunted the lineup’s progression. Opposing pitchers heavily exploited the position, contributing to a massive 68.2% team chase rate and a 28.1% whiff rate that ranked among the league’s most undisciplined profiles.
Oswald Peraza flashed great leather and started off hot offensively but faded severely down the stretch. Striking out 30% of the time and rarely drawing a walk, the versatile Peraza posted a very meager .226/.282/.334 line that was 24% below MLB average by measure of wRC+.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Vaughn Grissom was played for his offensive potential but was brutal defensively. And even his bat was subpar with a .387 slugging percentage.
Christian Moore looked overmatched during most of his tenure before going on a tear for the last week of the season. But all in all, the Angels have a serious problem at second base that must be addressed.
Corner Crossroads: Measuring the Power Outage at Third Base
Death, taxes, the Angels having a hole at third base. Outside of the glory years of Troy Glaus and in a different way the leadoff prowess of Chone Figgins, the Angels have had an endless parade of hopefuls at third base but no long term answer. Perhaps that changes in a couple of years when Baseball America’s Angels prospect of the year Jake Munroe is ready but for right now it is a huge problem.
Yoan Moncada was signed as a stopgap, again, and was horrible on both sides of the ball before again getting injured. A .189/.308/.297 slash line is laughable at the hot corner and likely spells the end of Moncada signing Major League deals.,
Enter the 22 year old Denzer Guzman who was touted for his glove as a prospect with huge questions about his bat. He largely learned his new position on the fly at the game’s highest level and held his own. But he was generally overmatched at the plate and struck out nearly five times more often than he walked. His wRC+ of 68 is simply too low and without better plate discipline might not improve.
Late-Inning Liability: Dissecting a Deficient Angels Bullpen
Keeping the failures of the Angels bullpen down to a couple of paragraphs will be a tough job. Easily the best way to describe the unit is that the team’s saves leader had five. And he took the lead over a guy who was released on April 28th only in the last week.
Perhaps no area of the team highlighted the failures of Perry Minasian as a general manager more than the bullpen. Between wasting $33 million on Robert Stephenson and drafting tons of college relievers only to convert them back to starters in the minor leagues (almost always with poor results), Minasian ensured the Angels would need several free agent relievers each year and very little money to sign them.
Even when he had a quality tanden in Brock Burke and Kenley Jansen he traded the former for a bad outfielder then let the latter walk in free agency. He signed four retreads for the same contract Jansen signed, and three of them were off the team by May.
As a unit the Angels bullpen recorded 21 saves and blew 27. They had an ERA of 4.47 that ranked 24th in MLB. Allowing traffic was their forte and the group walked 258 batters and was hit around for a total of 558 hits.
The lack of a bullpen anchor led to a constant reshuffling of roles and, as usual, the Angels cycled through arm after arm desperately looking for sparks that simply were not there. Fixing the Angels bullpen is the single largest task facing the Angels at the Major League level.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleÂ
