Trout longs for World Series joy
Megastar’s Angels last made playoffs in ’14
ANAHEIM, Calif. – It’s late in the evening, after the latest Angels defeat, and reporters gather around Mike Trout’s locker as he slowly dresses.
This is one of the greatest weeks of his career, in what’s emerging as his most spectacular season yet, and Trout can’t bear to look at the statistic that eats away at him.
“I’m not going to look,” he says, softly. “It’s too early. I can’t. I just can’t.”
This has nothing to do with his own numbers, leading the major leagues in everything from home runs (23), runs
(60), total bases (176), extra-base hits
(42), walks (62) and a mind-blowing
1.152 on-base plus slugging percentage. He’s on pace to surpass Babe Ruth and everyone else who played the game for the greatest Wins Above Replacement season produced.
This has everything to do with the standings.
Los Angeles is in a free fall, losing seven games in the standings in nine days, plummeting to 101⁄ games behind
2 the American League West-leading Astros and eight behind the Mariners for the second and final wild-card spot.
“This has been one of those crazy, weird years,” Trout says. “I can’t even explain it.”
The Angels have had a franchise-record 15 players simultaneously on the disabled list, employed a major leagueleading 46 players and a franchise-record 25 pitchers through 73 games, and breath-taking rookie Shohei Ohtani might have thrown his last pitch of the season because of a torn elbow ligament.
Hello misery, it’s the Angels again. “I’d give up everything I have, all of the individual awards I’ve ever won,” says Trout, a two-time MVP and sixtime All-Star, “for a World Series. It would be so sick to win the World Series, ride around with that trophy, and see everyone so happy. That’s something you dream about.
“But I know you’ve got to get to the playoffs first.”
Trout will be playing his 1,000th game in the majors on Thursday and already is on a collision course for Cooperstown.
Barry Bonds didn’t have 224 homers in his first 1,000 games. Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t have as high as Trout’s .308 batting average. Only Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez hit at least .300 with 450 extra-base hits and 150 stolen bases, and no one in baseball history had racked up more than Trout’s 60.5 WAR.
My God, since he became a regular in April 2012, he has never gone longer than two games without reaching base. In the last week, he reached base 25 times in seven games, with a double, four homers and seven RBI.
In the history of baseball, only five players have a higher career batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage than Michael Nelson Trout: Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby and Jimmie Foxx.
“I always tell myself if you’re in the same conversation as Hall of Fame guys,” Trout says, “it means you played the game the right way, played the game hard and makes you think you’re doing something right.”
Yet despite perhaps the most spectacular first seven seasons by the 20,000 men who ever played major league baseball, the loneliest number of all is 3.
That’s the total number of postseason games Trout has played.
The Angels went three-and-out in the 2014 AL Division Series against the Royals and are looking to get their first postseason game win since 2009.
“It was short, we ran into a hot team that got every big hit and made every big play, but it was so much fun,” Trout says. “That was probably my funnest season, just getting to the playoffs, and winning the division. Celebrating with the fans, it was crazy. I even saved my goggles from that celebration. It makes you want to go back as quickly as you can and do it all over again.”
In Anaheim, anyway, time is running out.
Going into Tuesday, Trout had 413 games left until he’s eligible for free agency after the 2020 season, and there have been no contract talks, with no negotiations scheduled for at least the rest of this year.
“I don’t think about that stuff,” Trout says. “It will all play out the way it’s supposed to be. I can only control what I can control. I got two more years left. Let’s see what happens.”
There are no indications Trout is interested in departing the only organization he has known, but if the Angels don’t reach the postseason before 2020, it could dramatically alter his thinking.
Trout, 26, is fiercely loyal, remembering the Angels chose him after every team passed him up until the 25th pick in the 2009 draft.
And he has a strong relationship with owner Arte Moreno, president John Carpino, general manager Billy Eppler and manager Mike Scioscia.
Trout, who married Jessica Cox, his high school sweetheart, in December, loves his Orange County lifestyle, living in Laguna Beach during the season, just steps from the ocean. The offseason is spent back home in Millville, N.J., where he and Jessica are building their dream house on 300 acres, near both of their families.
“This organization, from top to bottom, has treated me great,” Trout says. “The fans are great. The West Coast. You’re on the beach. What more can you ask? We get a little spoiled out here living by the beach and enjoying this weather every day.”
And yet for a guy who has never missed more than five games in a season until tearing his thumb ligament last year, the season is far too short.
“We all want that for him, at least to get a taste of it,” says five-time All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter, Trout’s close friend and former teammate. “He deserves it. The world deserves it. There’s so many people that have heard of Mike, but never got to see him play.
“Put him on the national stage, in postseason, and you’re going to see just how crazy good he is. You’re going to witness greatness.”
David Ross, who spent 15 years in the big leagues as a .229-hitting backup catcher and played in 12 postseason rounds and won two World Series, believes the baseball world would lose its mind seeing Trout in the postseason.
“As a fan, you want to see the best player on the biggest stage, right?” said Ross, an ESPN analyst. “I want to see him there. I want to see under the bright lights in a playoff series against the Yankees in New York. Can you imagine?”
Certainly, it’s the Angels’ dream, too. It’s why they strongly pursued Royals closer Kelvim Escobar, before he was traded Monday to the Nationals. The Angels remain immersed in talks with multiple teams for pitching. They might be in a free fall, but knowing there’s no guarantee Trout will be around past 2020, they’re not about to sacrifice any season.
“It’s a responsibility that myself and my staff take very seriously,” Eppler says “getting this club into the postseason. It’s inherent in human nature to always want to look ahead, or look behind; people don’t really like to look at now. We’re looking at today.”
And, at least for now, Eppler and his staff are trying to do everything they can to take advantage of one of perhaps the greatest players of his generation.
“Growing up, I idolized Ken Griffey Jr. because he was having so much fun on the baseball field,” Eppler said, “and Mike is the same way. He’s always playing the game with a smile and always seems to be having more fun than anybody on that baseball field.
“I didn’t know the man behind the curtain until I got here,” Eppler continued, “but once you get to know him, understand what makes him tick and what kind of human being he is, you hold him even in higher regard.”
Trout, the first baseball player since Griffey to have his own line of Nike shoes, has no interest in saturating the market with endorsements. You see him in precious few commercials. He shuns the spotlight, letting the others participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby, while he sits back and enjoys the show with his teammates. His idea of good nightlife is carrying a flashlight with him on his hunting trips with his high school buddies.
In due time, there will be negotiations. There will be debates how much to pay the greatest player in the game. And there will always be the ultimate question whether Trout will even want to stay if the Angels’ postseason drought continues.
“I just want to get to the playoffs,” Trout says. “I saw firsthand what the (Philadelphia) Eagles can do for a city. Just sitting in the stands that day, being a fan of the team winning it all, was pretty special.
“I can’t imagine being the guy holding that trophy up in the air. It’s something that I always think about in the back of my mind.
“Winning a World Series, how cool would that be?”
Just reaching the playoffs again wearing an Angels uniform would be a start.