What the Angels Opening Day Win Told Us

Winning the first game of the 2026 season was a nice step for the Angels. While it was only one game out of 162 it did give us some early indications about the 2026 team. This is still a small glimpse, but there are things to glean.

Jose Soriano is on the verge of being an ace.

If I had to pick one Angels player who could truly have a breakout season it is Jose Soriano. When looking at his age, raw stuff, and the Angels new pitching coach Mike Maddux there is a perfect recipe for an ace to emerge.

Soriano's stuff has never been in question but it has also never been nastier. His sinker was regularly hitting 100 MPH but more importantly was also regularly hitting its desired location. When the fastball is that effective, it makes the knuckle curve all the more devastating. Hitters can not do damage to this pitch.

José Soriano 💯 pic.twitter.com/NtlvTdUewa
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 26, 2026

Angels hitters actually have an approach at the plate.

Last season the Angels led all of MLB in strikeouts by a wide margin. In fact they struck out more than all but one team in MLB history. Houston's Hunter Brown was able to rack up plenty of K's yesterday and the Angels did strike out 14 times total yesterday but they also worked a ton of deep counts and made Houston work for them.

Hunter Brown is a really good pitcher. The Angels needed to get him out of the game early and try to score off the bullpen yesterday and they did that. Take a look at this pitcher comparison.

José Soriano has finished 5 scoreless innings and he's still at 74 pitches.

The Angels knocked out Hunter Brown after 4.2 IP with 102 pitches.

It's still 0-0, going to the 6th
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) March 26, 2026

The Angels scored in each of the following innings to pull out a 3-0 win. Staying patient and working counts eventually paid off for the offense. Six walks helped in that regard as well.

Kurt Suzuki's game management is still a big question mark.

After six brilliant innings by Jose Soriano, manager Kurt Suzuki's first move was to bring in young fireballer Walbert Urena. Considering Urena's stuff is similar to Soriano's and how effective Soriano was, this was a logical choice even if a bit brave as this was Urena's first taste of MLB action. The kid has a great fastball and could be a mainstay for the Angels but he had yet to throw a pitch as this level.

The writing was on the wall, literally in the form of the Astros lineup card, that if Urena got into trouble the lefty slugger Yordan Alvarez would be the end of Urena's line. Despite having a trio of lefties in Brent Suter, Drew Pomeranz, and Joey Luchessi available Suzuki did not have any of them warm up. He took a big gamble on Chase Silseth to face Alvarez with two on and the game on the line.

Silseth escaped the jam but I'm sure the Astros side will happily take that match up ten times out of ten. Last year lefties crushed Silseth with a .385/.556/.692 slash line. Meanwhile, Suter held them to a .243/.282/.387 line last season. Even in looking at longer term career numbers, the southpaw Suter is the better option.

Jordan Romano as closer was also an interesting choice but likely one made out of neccessity. Thankfully the team had a 3 run lead by the time Romano pitched. The fact Ryan Zeferjahn was warming up at that time indicates he was a possibility to pitch in a close, late game which should never happen.

Give Suzuki credit for putting Soriano on the hill to start the game, though. He was clearly the right man for the job and put up a great game.