In dropping their final game of 2026 to the Seattle Mariners, the 2026 Los Angeles Angels became the first in their franchise history to record 100 losses in a season.
A number of teams went into the final Sunday of the 2026 MLB season needing to win one game to make the playoffs: the Houston Astros needed a win to capture the AL West; the Texas Rangers needed a victory and Houston loss to grab the AL West title; the Philadelphia Phillies needed a "W" to secure the final National League Wild Card spot; and the Arizona Diamondbacks needed a win coupled with a Philadelphia defeat to become the NL's final playoff team.
As it happens, Houston and Philadelphia accomplished their objectives and will join the postseason party when it kicks off on Tuesday.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Angels also needed a win on Sunday, but they were unsuccessful, dropping a 7-3 decision to the Seattle Mariners that immediately put the future of first-year manager Kurt Suzuki in doubt.
Historically, though, the loss carried greater weight than a single defeat as it helped mark the first time that the Angels had lost 100 games in a season. To this point, they had been the only franchise in MLB history to have never had a 100-loss season.
To be fair, hopes were not high for the Angels as they kicked off the 2026 season, with FanGraphs giving them just a 2.2% chance of reaching the postseason and 0.7% chance of winning the AL West. For comparison, the Chicago White Sox had a 1.5% chance to make the playoffs, but they did overcome those odds to capture a Wild Card spot.
While the Angels did not get much support as a playoff team in 2026, FanGraphs did predict a 67-95 record for them while the consensus among sportsbooks was a 71.5-72.5 over/under win total. In both cases, the Angels' 62-100 record, in addition to being historically significant, underperformed the predictions of the statistical models.
In reality, the 2026 season was always going to be another in a decade-long series of struggles for the franchise, especially with a first-time manager who had never filled out a lineup card before.
As it turns out, the Angels' best month of the season was March when they went 3-3. Every other month featured a losing record. They were essentially buried at the end of May at 23-37 and while they did go 13-14 in June, any gains made that month went out the window with a 6-17 July. Then it was just a slog to the finish line with the Angels managing a 4-6 record in their final 10 games when 5-5 would've kept them out of the 100-loss club.
Now, where do they go from here? Aside from the unbounded joy that accompanied the announcement on Sept. 1 that Stan Kroenke agreed to buy the team from Arte Moreno and that John Mozeliak had been hired as interim GM in June, any good on-the-field news at the major-league level was sparse.
Pitcher Reid Detmers recorded 211 strikeouts as he conformed his "ace" status; rookie hurler Walbert Urena (team-best nine wins) was a pleasant surprise; Zach Neto (27 HRs, 77 RBIs) further established himself as one of the best shortstops in the game; rookie Wade Meckler (2.4 WAR) made a case as a useable outfield piece in 98 games; and franchise stalwart Mike Trout appeared in 142 games - his most since 2016 - and contributed 22 HRs and 54 RBIs with a 4.1 WAR, but will he be back next year? Other than that, it was mostly a season to forget.
On the bright side, the Angels were deemed to have had a solid 2026 draft that can help bolster the farm system, according to MLB Pipeline, and Mozeliak was active at the trade deadline in adding some intriguing young players.
Down on the farm, the highlight of the season was the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas winning the Southern League championship, the first full-season title for an Angels' minor-league affiliate since High-A Inland Empire won the California League in 2013. Elsewhere, the results were not as noteworthy with Triple-A Salt Lake, High-A Tri-City and Single-A Inland Empire all finishing below .500.
Now comes the anticipated excitement of the Kroenke regime, coupled with some gains made by the GM. Surely another 100-loss season can't be in the offing in 2027. Or can it?
