ANAHEIM — The official end to a season that has been unofficially over for months finally arrived.
The Angels lost 8-0 to the Texas Rangers in the final game of the season on Sunday afternoon, running their franchise-record loss total to 99.
After winning a game last Sunday to ensure they would avoid 100 losses, they lost their final six games to finish 63-99. The previous record had been 95 losses.
The Angels, who won 73 games last season and then lost MVP Shohei Ohtani, were projected to finish fourth. They instead finished last in the American League West.
It was the Angels’ 10th straight season missing the playoffs – the longest drought in the majors – and their ninth straight losing season.
First-year manager Ron Washington, who was hired because of his reputation as a motivator and teacher, said he saw signs of improvement, despite the record.
“It was a year of growth, and it was so also a year of experience,” Washington said before the game. “And I think throughout the year, we got that growth. We got that experience. As I always said you’re looking for consistency and sustainability. And if we can stay healthy, with the players that we expect to be in the mix, we won’t have to be looking at 162 in a dire situation where are just losing. I’m not a loser. I’m trying to instill in these kids to look at it in a different way. Yes, we are losing, but you’re really learning how to win.”
Although they had an encouraging stretch of baseball in the middle of the season, the beginning and the end were both awful. They finished the season by losing 18 of their last 23 games.
“I thought in the middle of the year the kids were showing what they were about, but they ran out of gas,” Washington said. “They ran out of gas.”
Washington said he was prepared for a season with young players, but he didn’t plan on so many injuries.
“Our young kids grew, but they had no support the rest of the year because the people we expected to lead weren’t here,” Washington said. “We had kids that had to try to be leaders, and in reality, they had no idea what it took to lead.”
The Angels notably lost Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon for most of the season. By the end they were also playing without José Soriano and Ben Joyce — their best starter and best reliever. Jo Adell was on the injury list. Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Mickey Moniak were all nursing minor injuries that kept them out of the final games.
The starting lineup for the season finale included just two players — Taylor Ward and Brandon Drury — who were in the lineup on Opening Day.
In the final lineup, the Angels had Jack López, a 31-year-old who was playing his 34th major league game, batting second. Eric Wagaman, a 27-year-old playing his 18th big league game, was hitting third.
The patchwork lineup went quietly against Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. After coming up empty on a bases-loaded opportunity in the first, the Angels did not get another runner into scoring position until the seventh.
The Angels finished with four hits.
Starter Jack Kochanowicz gave up three runs in seven innings, finishing his rookie season with three straight seven-inning outings. Kochanowicz had a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts, including a 2.78 ERA in nine starts after he returned from the minors.
More to come on this story.
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