STORY BY ALEXAH GUZMAN, STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY HANNAH KAMPITAN, DIGITAL EDITOR
Baseball season has officially come to an end. October is an exciting month for baseball fans especially Los Angeles Dodgers fans, this year they went all the way and brought home the trophy to be named the 2024 World Series Champions.
As an Los Angeles Angels fan though, my baseball season ends in September. When the post season approaches I usually just watch who wins as long as the Dodgers don’t, but they did win it this year with Shohei Ohtani, a former Angels player also known as the “Two Way Star.” Game 5 was tough to watch. I had been rooting for the New York Yankees. The Yankees had a great offense during the regular season but somehow they couldn’t put it together as a team.
I mean this was a big deal two iconic franchises facing each other with historic rivalry. Towards the end of game 5 I started to realize the Dodgers were going to take it all and I was not looking forward to seeing all the notifications and posts on social media. I was shocked they won it all,
especially since the Yankees are such a competitive team. It didn’t seem like they were playing at their best against the Dodgers, their star player Aaron Judge struggled during the Championship with his batting average at .222 with seven strikeouts. I knew it was only a matter of time before the Dodgers finally clinched the title, they’ve got too many talented utility players to keep falling short year after year, or should I say “choke” year after year.
Many people asked me why I was not rooting for the Dodgers especially since they are a “Cali team” but I would not do that under any circumstances and hop on the bandwagon. Ever since I was a little girl I would always hear the trash talking from Dodger fans so why would I support them? Yes, we get it, the Dodgers won again redeeming themselves after three consecutive years of falling short after their last World Series win in 2020.
As an Angels fan it’s frustrating to watch, the team hasn’t done anything significant since 2014 where they had a wild card appearance but got swept by the Kansas City Royals. Since then they have not been successful which is shocking considering they had the two best players in the world, Mike Trout and Ohtani, but couldn’t make it past the regular season.
It’s disheartening as a fan to see that the organization has wasted talent for so many years, every baseball fan knew the Angels didn’t have pitching and that’s what they needed to become more successful. Angels Owner Arte Moreno has been in ownership since 2003, but the team has not been successful under his ownership. Moreno was even thinking about selling the team at one point. In my opinion, Disneyland should buy the angels again, under Disney’s ownership the team won its first world series in 2002. They also renamed the team “Anaheim Angels” which makes more sense then having the team named “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.”
After last season, Ohtani who was originally acquired by the Angels in 2018, was given an abundance of contracts to choose from after completing his contract and ultimately he chose to sign a $700 million contract with the Dodgers, and after six years he finally got a ring.
The Dodgers roster holds some of the highest paying contracts of Major League Baseball. These power plays made by owner Mark Walter, President, Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, and Manager Dave Roberts led to a steadfast acquirement of the biggest names in baseball including Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ultimately leading to another trophy for Los Angeles.
I just hope that one day the Angels will win the World Series but considering how they’ve been playing including our farm system it’s not looking that great. There’s potential there, it’s just a matter of unlocking it.
