Angels News: Shohei Ohtani is Optimistic About the Team's Trajectory
The Angels' 2022 season was disappointing. At one point, the Angels sat at 27-17 and appeared to be one of baseball's best teams. They then went on a 12-game losing streak, fired their manager and ended up finishing at 73-89.
The Angels had some stellar seasons from superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, but it was yet another early exit for two of baseball's best players. Trout has played in postseason baseball just once in his career (2014), and Ohtani is yet to experience it.
However, after the season, Ohtani was asked about his thoughts on the overall season. He gave a pretty optimistic answer.
"The season this year is probably better than last year, looking at it overall," Ohtani said. "Normally, I would like to be in the playoffs and this is supposed to be the starting line. Unfortunately, that’s not the case this year. Hopefully, that will be the case next year."
It would've been really easy for Ohtani to speak negatively on the season, and his entire five-year tenure with the Angels where the haven't had a winning record.
But Ohtani knows what the goal is, and he hopes that this team can make a push to get there next year. He even put it on himself to improve and help make that possible.
“What I have control over is for me to get better in the offseason," Ohtani said. "Do better than last year. Do better than this year. The better I get, the better the chances of us getting in the postseason. So that’s my focus.”
The two sides already agreed to an MLB-record $30 million contract for an arbitration-eligible player in Ohtani, so their sole focus on next season can be working towards a winning record and a postseason berth.
