by Jerry Feitelberg]
The Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels have been competing against each other since 1961
when the Angels entered the American League as an expansion team in 1961. The A’s were still in Kansas City then until 1968 when they moved to Oakland. Division play started in 1969. At that time until 1994, there were just two divisions in each league, the AL East and West. The A’s and Angels were,of course,in the AL West. division. In 1994, baseball, due to expansion, increased the number of divisions to three. The American League had 14 teams while the National League had 16. The A’ played in the four team West which included the Angels, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. In 2013,
the Houston Astros moved from the National to the American League West and each league now had three division of five teams each.
The A’s have a 406-329 advantage over the Angels since moving to Oakland and a record of 455-406
all-time. People would think that there should be a huge rivalry between the two teams like the one that exists between the Dodgers and Giants or Red Sox and Yankees. The natural rivalry is Northern California vs.Southern California but it just doesn’t happen with the A’s and Angels. It used to happen in pro football with the Niners and Rams but that’s not the same since the Rams moved St.Louis. Stanford vs USC in College football is big but the rivalry just isn’t there between the A’s and the Angels.
One school of thought is that the A’s have been so good since they move here to Oakland. The A’s have
won six pennants and four World Series titles while the Angels have one just one pennant and one World Series crown. The Angels have had good teams but the A’s were just better over the years.
The Angels have been competitive the last few years but were not able to win the pennant. Same story
for the A’s. The A’s have made the playoffs a few times since 2000 but have been eliminated in the ALDS each time except for 2006 . The lost four straight to the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS.
2014 has been an interesting race between the A’s and the Angels. The A’s played well for the first four months of the season. The Angels got off to a slow start but took over the division lead as the A’s went into a deep slide and , while the A’s have two games left with the Angels, the Angels won the AL West by a large margin. If the A’s make the playoffs and win the play in game, they will have to face the Angels in the ALDS. That series should be a doozy as the competitive juices will be flowing.
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Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938
Sports Radio Service 