Classic stage has Trout targeting postseason

LOS ANGELES — Mike Trout was again with the Angels for the primary time since his expertise within the World Baseball Classic as Team USA’s captain — and that large, championship-deciding at-bat towards teammate and worldwide two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani of Team Japan.

Before the Halos started their Freeway Series exhibition recreation with the Dodgers on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, Trout held court docket within the dugout and mirrored on all of it.

“It was an unbelievable experience, obviously,” mentioned Trout, relating it to his reminiscences on a journey ball staff in highschool … with barely larger stakes this time.

“Probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve had on a baseball field.”

Trout defined that after the quick pleasure of the Classic pale, he texted Angels supervisor Phil Nevin to share his ideas on what he’d simply skilled.

“You know, I needed this,” Trout summarized. “I wanted to play on this ambiance, I wanted to expertise it and be within the second. It made me assume how dangerous we wish to get again within the playoffs. I clearly had it in ‘14, but [the WBC] atmosphere was … as a baseball fan, as a competitor, that’s the place you wish to play. You wish to be in that second.

“It was just a special, special few days.”

Heading into the Classic, with Team Japan and Team USA projected by many to each threaten for the title, it lent itself to desires of a Trout vs. Ohtani showdown. That it occurred within the precise manner it did was virtually a baseball fantasy, a particular deal with for all who tuned in around the globe. Two of the best gamers of their era going through off with the worldwide match on the road? It was as epic a battle as anybody may have imagined.

“It was a fun battle,” Trout recalled. “We were both competing up there. That was my first time seeing him, obviously,” including that this one-on-one gave Trout a style of what everyone else has to cope with after they step into the field with Ohtani’s imposing presence obvious down at them from the mound.

“Now we’re teammates. I’m happy he’s my teammate,” Trout mentioned with a smile. “It was a fun at-bat. He threw me a nasty 3-2 pitch, I missed some heaters before that. He’s a good pitcher, obviously.”

With all of the emotion and drama of that second within the rearview mirror, Trout and Ohtani can now get again to business and deal with the season forward, which begins on Thursday in Oakland.

The Angels are heading right into a 2023 season below a large microscope. It has been almost a decade because the membership made the postseason, and Ohtani is getting into his last season earlier than free company. Last season, the Angels (73-89) wrapped their seventh consecutive end below the .500 mark — hardly the form of consequence you’d anticipate from a staff boasting among the recreation’s premier expertise.

“We brought in a lot of great guys,” Trout mentioned of the Angels’ offseason strikes. The membership added Brandon Drury and Gio Urshela within the infield, Hunter Renfroe and Brett Phillips within the outfield and bolstered the bullpen with veterans resembling Matt Moore and Carlos Estévez, amongst different roster tweaks.

Will or not it’s sufficient to finish the extended drought and push Trout and Ohtani onto the October stage? Time will inform, but it surely goes with out saying that’s the solely objective for this season.

“Oh, for sure. I mean, any time you start the season, anything less than making the playoffs is a disappointment,” mentioned Trout.

Nevin echoed that very same sentiment, emphasizing the expertise the Angels have on their roster every day.

“Any time you have a roster like ours, and you have expectations within our room like we do, every day has a sense of urgency,” mentioned Nevin. “If you don’t, then I think we’re doing our teammates a [disservice], the organization, too. So every day to me is playing with a sense of urgency because of what’s ahead of us.”

With a key yr forward of them, Trout could be very eager on remaining Ohtani’s teammate for years to return, too.

“I’m always in his ear, for sure,” Trout mentioned when requested about “recruitment efforts” to persuade Ohtani to re-sign with the Angels. “We’ll see how it goes, but I’m always going to try to keep him here.”