LOS ANGELES Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani greets Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) before a spring training baseball game in Phoenix, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
By Pete Zarustica/Orange County Tribune
Spring training is underway for Major League Baseball and the questions on the lips of Los Angeles-Orange County fans are these:
How good can the Dodgers be?
How bad can the Angels be?
With three MVPs in the batting order – Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani – can the Dodgers finally grab that World Series ring that’s avoided them since … 2020?
With the loss of their best player and fan attraction – Shohei Ohtani – and with sparse action in the free agent market, can the Angels rise to the lofty status of a .500 ball club, one which has avoided them .. since 2015?
The rivalry between the two teams was one-sided until “The Unicorn” – Shohei – showed up seven years ago.
The Dodgers were still the better team by far, but the Angels could at least claim having the best player in the MLB and maybe the best ever.
Mike Trout is still on a trajectory toward the Hall of Fame, but speculation is rife that Trout – getting a bit older and injury-prone – is on the down side of the arc.
For those of us that relish seeing those two huge talents oppose each other, nine Angels-Dodgers contests are on the 2024 schedule.
They’ve played twice this spring with one 7-7 tie and one 4-0 Angels win. There’s the pre-season “Freeway Series” March 24-26 and then a couple of two-game series on June 21-22 and then on Sept. 3-4.
A lot of hearts were warmed by photos earlier this week of Trout and Ohtani greeting each other with hugs.
Now, it’s nostalgia. Later this year it may be Ohtani comforting Trout as their teams go their separate ways, standings-wise.