Angels News: Mike Trout’s 'Main Goal' is Getting to the Postseason This Year
Mike Trout has been among the best players in baseball for over a decade now, but one criticism always comes back at him: He hasn't done it in the postseason. Of course, most of that is because his teams haven't been in the postseason. In 2014, Trout's only taste of the playoffs, he went 1-for-12 with a .600 OPS as the Halos got swept out of the postseason by the Kansas City Royals.
That's how long it's been since Trout has been in the postseason — the Royals were good back then!
For Trout, the lack of postseason opportunities eats at him more than anything else in his career. The superstar was on MLB Network recently and talked about his desire to play in October.
"As soon as the season was over, I called [manager Phil] Nevin and I talked to him. I said, look, it’s every year. It’s every single year it comes up: Trout needs to get to the postseason. It kills me the most, not being able to be there and compete.
"Obviously I got a taste of it in ’14 which was very short, but the main goal and the main focus is getting to the postseason. I say it every year, but it definitely kills me not being there and seeing the guys you compete with every day and teams that are there that you know you can compete with. So, it’s frustrating for sure. The mindset this year is we got to win."
Getting to the postseason is a team accomplishment, and if there's one thing we've learned over the last nine years, it's that Trout alone can't get the team there. It's surely frustrating for Trout, who, when he struggled in the 2014 ALDS, probably had no idea he wouldn't sniff the postseason again for a long time.
Nothing is guaranteed in life, or in baseball. But it sure would be nice — for Trout and all Angels fans — to see Trout and his teammates playing in October on the biggest stage.
