Angels Receive Brutal Grade for 2025 Season

ESPN's David Schoenfield handed the Los Angeles Angels a "D-" rating for their performance during the 2025 season.

The Angels are currently last in the AL West, and have the third worst record in the American League. With just two games left, they will miss the postseason for the 11th season in a row, and finish with a losing record for the 10th straight season.

"The Angels did some good things," wrote Schoenfield. "Zach Neto had his second straight 5-WAR season and might be regarded as the most underrated player in the game now. Jo Adell had a breakout year in the power department and the Angels hit a lot of home runs as a whole. They're also the only team that will have five starters make at least 23 starts."

Neto and Adell were definitely the two stars in the Angels' lineup this season, though Adell took the biggest jump in the team compared to last season. After five consecutive seasons batting below league average, Adell has 37 home runs and 97 RBIs this season, posting career-high .780 OPS through 150 games.

That isn't to say Neto hasn't been great, though, as he recorded his second consecutive season with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Now on the injured list, he will also finish 2025 with a bWAR higher than 5.0 for the second season in a row.

While the Angels' young stars stole the show this season, something still needs to be said about veteran Taylor Ward. Ward has always been a fairly consistent hitter for the Angels, but he took things to a new level in 2025. His 36 home runs and 103 RBIs crushed his previous career highs, and his .476 slugging percentage is also the best he has ever recorded.

Despite the positive, Schoenfield believes the Angels still heavily underperformed.

"On the other hand, Mike Trout's career continues the Ken Griffey Jr. trajectory," wrote Schoenfield. "With the Reds, we kept waiting for Griffey to have another Griffey-esque season, but it never happened, and it looks like that will be the case with Trout. Bottom line: The Angels had meager expectations and failed to meet even those with their 10th consecutive losing season."

Trout is having a career-worst season, though he still has an OPS well above .700. Despite that, Schoenfield definitely has a point about the Angels' failure to meet expectations. The Halos rode a high early in the season and even found themselves in a race for a Wild Card spot in July, however any hopes of seeing October have died over the last two months, where they dropped numerous series to teams who had worse records than them at the time.

Not all hope is lost for the Angels, however, as their young core is locked down for the next few years and Taylor Ward has one year remaining before free agency. If the Angels can sort themselves out before 2026, they may be able to make an exciting run next season.

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