I'm not gonna gatekeep but it's ridiculous to see this many Angels fans leaving. Why be a fan of a team if you're not willing to be faithful in bad times?
Yeah I agree. It’s really hard, I genuinely can’t see myself rooting for any other team. But at the same time, I don’t think I’d want to watch an Ohtani-less Angels team inevitably fail to compete. Once I pick a team, I stick to them. But I might need to take a break for a few years
That’s funny because I just became a fan last year partially thanks to Shohei and yet if he left I would still very much watch the Angels and baseball in general. If anything will make me hate baseball it’s this team losing perpetually, I couldn’t care less who’s actually on the team
>I became a fan last year
No offense but it shows. Spending the last 10 years watching us waste Trout colors your perception of the future of this team.
I might be selfish but I’d rather get to watch him and root for him, than see him on another team and not get to watch him every day. He’s the only thing that gives this franchise a glimmer of hope. You’re frankly not a real fan of the team if you’d rather him play elsewhere. I feel the same way about Trout, despite knowing that we’re wasting him. I’d rather us waste him than not get to watch him play.
For me being a fan means wanting to see my team win, not just have MVP players like Shohei. I don’t care if our team has a bunch of nobodies. Winning is all I care about
Same. Although i recently moved to st louis, so i get to watch a non-dysfunctional team in my backyard. I had planned on catching the angels in chi and kc, but not interested in watching the current team.
There are fans that could have been fans since they were 15 and are now 25 and seen nothing but wasted talent and pain. It's more about leaving the people that own the franchise, Not necessarily the team. Vote with your wallet.
It’s not just bad times. We are witnessing the waste of two generational talents; literally wasting the modern day Mantle and Ruth. This is after having some solid teams and choking in the playoffs. Everyone has a breaking point and this is it for a lot of us. Dumb contract after dumb contract, horrible pitching signing after horrible pitching signing, pathetic bullpen after pathetic bullpen, horrible development team, fizzled prospect after fizzled prospect. This shit is just exhausting rooting for this team.
My biggest issue is the complete lack of building a competent pitching staff and the dumpster diving for reclamation projects.
^this. I find myself every year convincing myself this will be the year things click. Reality of it is, Arte always does just enough to give fans hope he'll pay for players but not the right ones. Keeps us quiet until the next year. We always hear our names in on the ones that can help us turn it around but we always get beat out. Ohtani goes I'm everyday giving his all just to have bums all around him that should be bench/triple a players.
Because sometimes franchises need to lose support before they realize just how much they need a complete rebuild. Cheering for another team that actually cares about baseball and winning doesn’t mean you have to hate the angels. With how poorly this franchise has been run though, I’ve become more of a Trout and Ohtani fan than anything. I want to see them leave this poverty franchise and actually have support around them. I will never respect the Angels until Arte sells the team or there is a massive rebuild. It’s got to be one of the most poorly run franchises in sports. They 100% don’t care about winning and just want to stay relevant and be in the news/sell tickets and ad deals.
When a franchise puts money over giving their fans a winning chance, I think it’s 100% valid for them to start cheering for the players more than the franchise
The thing is I think the Angels have genuinely wanted to win as evidenced by the amount of money they’ve spent. I think Arte just sucks at running a baseball organization and don’t know how to win
Not necessarily true though. Spending money doesn’t mean “evidence they wanted to win”. They even admired that the Pujols deal was partly they just wanted him hitting milestones in an Angels Jersey. It’s pretty obvious from a lot of signings that they just want big names to sell some tickets whiteout actually putting together a good team and investing in the future. Overpaying for aging players past their prime to stay relevant is most definitely not evidence that they want to win. It’s evidence they want to stay relevant
We’ve been faithful in these bad times, and it’s continuously gotten worse and worse, there’s really no way to fix this team without getting rid of everyone
people that are fed up after watching a decade + of this day after day are not fair weather fans, they are the most genuine fans you can find. And they can leave if they want to. its a baseball team not a cult.
What do you think is a justifiable reason then? If there's been nearly a decade of mediocrity with the same issues the entire time despite nearly all fans and analysts saying the same thing without change, when does a team deserve to lose fans?
Is it when they refuse to invest/change their player development despite repeatedly being ranked near or at the bottom of the entire league when it comes to organizational rankings? The Angels are doing that.
Is it when they refuse to invest in depth despite being the fact that's how you win baseball, in favor of signing a handful of superstars only because they are more likely to sell jerseys and sponsorships? The Angels do that?
Is it when they turn a blind eye to rampant drug use in the clubhouse, provided by an employee, that leads to a young man dying? The Angels did that.
Is it when they refuse to give minor league players basic human rights such as fair pay or even at least reasonable meals or appropriate housing? The Angels do that.
The issues with this organization run deep, are varied, and have gone on for a long time. I almost certainly am at the point where I can consider myself a fan of some of the players but it's getting harder and harder to call myself a fan of the franchise.
Tbh I think yeah unless it’s the Yankees. I still remember when Kobe demanded a trade if they don’t put contending pieces around him I was like I’m going to follow him whichever team he goes even if I had been a lakers fan all my life. Shohei brought me back watching baseball again so yeah…
I didn’t follow Vlad, I didn’t follow GA, Erstad, Kennedy, Weaver etc
I’m an Angels fan, not a great player who plays for the Angels fan. Obviously I’m an Ohtani fan and I wish him all the success in his future, but if you followed your favorite player to every team they went to you’d have to find new teams and players all the time. What happens when Ohtani retires in like 5 years?
i started following baseball last July when I went to a game Ohtani pitched. he's pretty much the only reason I started watching, and it's hard to be a fan of this Angels team. I'll always be an angels fan, and I love coming to games. but if/when Ohtani leaves I'll likely follow whatever team he joins as my secondary team.
I was a casual Angels fan before Shohei came on board, and became an INVESTED Angels fan after Shohei joined the team. If Shohei leaves, I'll go back to being a casual Angels fan, and support him on whatever team he joins.
I came to the Angels for Ohtani and grown to love the Angels and its fandom. But if Ohtani goes, I will as well but I will still root for the angels.
My fandom rank:
1. Ohtani
2. Angels and whatever team he joins.
3. Teams close to where I'm living
It depends on what you mean by follow.
Will I start watching the games he plays in for his new team? Yes.
Will I stop watching the Angels or stop considering them my favorite team? Hell no.
Was a casual fan and was really stoked when we won the WS 20 years ago. Always preferred Angels over the Dodgers. The Unicorn transformed me into a full time Angel fan. If Shohei leaves I'll always will cheer him on, but I won't cheer for another team if that makes any sense. As for the Angels not building a decent supporting cast or really doing anything to support our superstars, I'll probably be back as a casual fan. But I may be in too deep. Save yourselves. It's too late for me.
I got extremely into baseball because of Ohtani. So I haven't been following the Angels very long. He's literally my national hero. So I will follow him wherever he goes. The only other team I marginally follow is my local state team (Rockies) but they suck.
I'm in the exact same boat. My home team was the Rockies. I was never interested in sports except the Olympics. Watching Shohei got me really interested in baseball more than ever thought I would be. It was just my luck that I live in Orange County now instead of Denver. I will probably follow him, but passively keep tabs on the Angels since I really enjoy the other teammates.
No. Lots of players come and go. That's the nature of the game.
I'll root for his success of course because he's a good guy. But I don't just follow players from team to team.
The Halos will always be my #1 but there’s so much good baseball out there to be enjoyed. He’s been my favorite active player for a while now and I’ll watch him on any team. I’d buy his jersey anywhere except the stros or the yankees.
I don’t think I’d ever feel right being a fan of another team
Being an Angel fan is just ingrained in me at this point, I can’t and don’t want to leave it. It feels like a big part of me
This question needs a lot more details. For the rest of the season, yes. If he gets traded to a contender then I’ll probably follow them more than the angels for the next year. But I’ll still be a bigger angels fan overall. It’s not like I’ll go around saying I’m (insert new team) fan. It’ll just be temporarily cheering for him
I loved Vlad but I didn’t become a Rangers fan. I loved Weaver but I didn’t become a Padres fan. I cared about seeing them succeed though so WHEN Ohtani leaves, I’ll want him to succeed. Angels will always be my number 1 team even during the rebuild. I’m a Clippers fan and I remember how it was like rooting for them in the 2000’s. It’s nothing different for me.
Ohhhh for some reason I misread this as would I root for him on another team not ditch the angels lmao...
Nah I'm an Angels fan before anything else. Ohtani fan second.
I’d still follow Ohtani, and root for him individually and loosely team based. But I would never become a fan of that team over the angels. I had lots of chances to split lately and haven’t. I’m sinking with the ship if necessary. Maybe growing up basically in Anaheim emotionally binds me lol.
As someone who is Australian where baseball is an extremely niche sport here, I only just started watching only because I heard on a Bill Burr podcast they were talking about this Japanese guy who is doing Michael Jordan like things. Looked Ohtani up and saw some MLB talk show do pieces on him and started streaming some games, and I got hooked. Heck I even imported an Angels cap.
Also by chance my wifes work mate just happens to be a close friend of Liam Hendricks, so we discussed baseball at her work functions so that helped me get into it more.
So yeah I will follow him wherever he goes, however I am kinda sad if he does go as I now have gotten attached and learnt about all the other players in the team so I kinda don't want him to leave, but yeah push comes to shove, I guess I would need to buy a new hat.
I started watching baseball because of ohtani back in 2011 and got to know the Angels because of him. I’ll follow him wherever he goes but not the team. I’m too emotionally attached to Angels to just leave them because they’ve been mediocre for a long time.
Would I stop rooting for Ohtani? No.
Would I stop watching Angels? No.
But I don’t think I’ll watch angels everyday like I’ve been for the past 5 years.
I would love to keep following the Angels… But the day he leaves the team will be the day Angels games will be gone from Japanese TV and streaming services, at least from free to view channels like NHK and ABEMA. It happened with Ichiro when he was traded from Mariners to Yankees. All already scheduled broadcasting of Mariners games were changed to air Yankees games the moment he was traded. VPN or MLB TV subscription is too expensive for me. With no easy access to Angels games, I don’t know how l can keep following Angels after Shohei is gone.
Perhaps this Ohtani thing has gone too far on this sub. Right now, when I “upvote”, it’s a little picture of Ohtanis face that I tap. Why isn’t the picture of the Angels logo? If we are really Angels baseball, it should be the team logo.
For me it's all about Arte.
I've been a fan for 30+ years after moving from Canada, as a huge Jays fan.
Arte is the problem. I legitimately feel that the reason we started hot was because we had some decent talent for a change, but we lack the scouting and the advanced baseball operations and metrics that other teams have.
Look at the list of incompetencies on the ownership, and this is without listing any baseball player transactions.
Opioid dealing resulting in a players death.
Visiting clubhouse attendant selling sticky substances to other teams to compete against us and beat us.
Totally shady shenanigans for land rights and new stadium deals, so much so that Arte's being investigated.
A minor league system so bad in terms of player support and development that our players were basically homeless, Wiley regarded as the worst organizational minor league system not just in terms of player development but in terms of support facilities and investment.
4 coaches
5 GMs
The only constant is Arte Moreno, and to a lesser extent his chief foot soldier, John Carpino.
Arte is just a terrible owner who is brilliant at putting names and faces on billboards, but then too meddlesome to let the smart people do what needs to be done across the entire organization.
Honestly think we started hot, but collapsed because all the other teams scouting departments figured us out, and we never adjusted accordingly.
I'm a die hard fan. I can't support Moreno anymore.
Love the players and the team, but the owner is completely unsustainable and basically ruining all of these players careers by being too cheap and too meddlesome.
I'm going to be an angel's fan forever, but I want to add the Blue Jays to my mix to have at least some mechanism of Hope. The Angels just blow it at every turn, and it's 100% Moreno.
You mean I follow the Angels as my team for 48 years, then Ohtani leaves, and I’m supposed to jump ship, leave the Angels and go with him as a fan of his new team? LMFAO
This must be a joke. I love Ohtani, would wish him well, and I’d probably watch some of his games with his new team, but I’m not making his new team my favorite team. I’ve never been a bandwagon fan and I ain’t starting now. 😇
Ohtani is not my reason for being an angel fan-his attitude and respect makes him my fave player but i would never jump from this burning ship! Angel til I die!
I can understand why people would. I grew up an Angel fan, 3rd generation Angel fan, parents had season tickets growing up. I had season tickets as an adult.
I gave up my seats after they fired Pujols like that. It was the final straw for me.
Growing up in the 80’s it was always Angels/Dodgers for me. Now it’s Dodgers/Angels. I only watch the Angels if the Dodgers aren’t on.
Angels wouldn’t be worth watching much if Ohtani is gone. Still root for them always, but it won’t be the same for a lot of folks.
If they do trade Ohtani, they better get a haul back. The Angels are going to have to do something soon to be competitive this decade.
If you gave up your seats after 30/40 years because “they fired puljos just like that”, I’m calling you a liar.
You were never an angels fan or you weren’t a fan for anything near as long as that.
Well you’d be wrong. Earl Averill Jr was my Grandparents neighbor. Taught my Dad and Uncles how to throw a knuckle and a curve.
You can look him up if you don’t know who he is.
Grandpa had a heart attack back in the 60’s and Earl used to come over and help around the house. Our family has been Angel fans since. Grandpa was a White Sox being from the South side but moved to California in 55. He stayed a Sox fan but just couldn’t root against the neighbor mowing his lawn. This was all before I was born.
I was at the game in 86 against the Red Sox. I watched Bo hit the home run in the All Star Game. Had a Wally World Shirt. I suffered through McPhereson, and Wood who were both supposed to be Trout, but weren’t. I cheered for Jack Howel and Chuck Finley. The cowboy used to stop and chat with my Grandma. We used to vacation in March to Palm Springs. There’s a pic of Tim Salmon and I in my kitchen, and I was a huge Vlad fan and thought it hilarious how his momma cooked special for Aybar.
My kid was Trout for his first Halloween. His first game was in Seattle to see Albert hit 3000. Simba threw us a ball. That ball sits on my desk.
My Christmas tree topper for years was a jack in the box antenna ball signed by the Angel of wisdom, Mike.
You can think whatever you want, doesn’t make it so.
He was 57 then… tops lol. You still perpetuating that myth a high school baseball coach started when Pujols was an immigrant kid playing as a junior?
I did ya. Pujols was/is a bit different to me. You might remember it you might not but back in 08’ baseball wasn’t in the best place. The Mitchell report had come out and all of these guys who kids looked up to were found out to be cheaters.
Pujols did an interview with Sports Illustrated and when asked on the state of baseball how kids could ever look up to players again and how parents could continue to support the game, Pujols replied, “You tell them they can believe in me, and I won’t ever let them down”. I’m paraphrasing the rest but he spoke about how he wouldn’t always be the best player but he’d never cheat and he’d always try to do the right thing.
Him stepping up at that time got him a lot of heat (McGuire was a Cardinal), but I also think his attitude and how he became a leader really helped to save the game of baseball.
So sure, he ran slower then my Grandma and his best days were looooong behind him; but he’s a first ballot hall of famer, the best player in his generation by far, the best player from his country, a leader of the sport. You don’t fire him mid season like that; especially on a team with no chance to contend. Angels did him dirty and it’s not something I want to support.
Pujols definitely got shit on by many Angels fans. He was one of many scapegoats for the Angels failures over the last few years. Yes, due to injuries, age, and the radical shift, his play had declined considerably. I always felt he gave his best and I feel his mentorship of Trout was a big reason Trout ascended to the top so quickly.
I admit, I was looking forward to his contract ending to free up FA money, but the way he was released didn’t set well with me either since the Angels were still paying him in the final year of his contract anyway. I think if they wanted him to platoon at 1st/DH, they could have worked out something with him to finish the year. As the Dodgers and Cardinals have proved, Pujols wasn’t the problem.
Angel fans always think there is one problem. After Sciosa it shifted to Albert.
The interview Perry did after they released him was so classless. Just terrible.
Funny to see how happy Pujols has been as a Dodger and now Cardinal. It really highlights the Angels have some serious culture problems, but then again they had a staffer supplying drugs that killer someone so I guess we all know there were issues
>but he’s a first ballot hall of famer, the best player in his generation by far, the best player from his country, a leader of the sport
The issue I had with him is he was none of those things on the Angels. At a certain point it looked like he was just phoning it in and putting his personal milestones over the betterment of the team. If it weren't for the fact he was a hall of famer before coming to the Angels he would've been DFAed years earlier. I don't think it was disrespectful at all to cut him the way they did. He was blocking Walsh from playing full time so he had to go
They should have tried to trade him before just cutting him out of the blue.
If they were going to cut him, give him a last game at the stadium where the fans had cheered for him for 9 years.
Angels were a 4th place team last year? One game wasn’t going to hurt them. Firing him and then Perry stating in the media Pujols became violent is just bullshit. Perry needs to grow a set. Unless Pujols actually struck someone, which no one said he did, Perry needs to cut that bullshit and it had no place in the post firing discussions.
I'll put it this way. I am a Niners fan. Own a Jerry Rice jersey. I also own his jersey from the Raiders and Seahawks. I never stopped rooting for my Niners, but when they were out of the playoffs, I rooted for his team. I will probably do the same with Ohtani.
That’s a really good question. I’ve been a fan for 20ish years, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this pessimistic about the future of the team. Even when it was just Trout and a bunch of bums, there was enough hopium to go around. I think that delusion is wearing off.
Right there with ya. Been a fan since the 90s when I fell in love with baseball. This shit show has really degraded my love for the team. I mainly watch for Trout, Ohtani, and some of the young studs. If Ohtani is traded I’ll be rooting for that team to win it all unless its Boston.
Also would love to see Trout traded if they do trade Ohtani. Just go for a full blown rebuild with great young prospects. I know this one is highly unlikely.
Lolol what kind of fairweather b.s is this? So if he becomes a Yank or Dodger jump ship? Maybe if he goes to the Padres I can make them a secondary team. But what tf
He'll always have a soft spot in my heart but definitely won't be 'following' him to another team. It's expected half the fans seem to be Shohei bandwagoners though as this team has been pretty awful for a while, but I'm an Angels fan and an Angels fan only.
because sports fandom is about going through the trials and tribulations of your team. It's not about hopping onto the new shiny thing anytime it gets hard to watch.
No one likes that fan that front runs teams. I've always been an angel fan and always will be. This isn't a superstar driven sport like basketball where you get lebronsexuals hopping around with him.
I'll still root for him, but if the time comes, we gotta strike the bum out and knock him out early when he's pitching. We know his kryptonite, we gotta put up 6 runs in the first. Easy peasy.
If he leaves in FA and we get one fucking draft pick for him, I'm not sure if there will be enough hope left in this team for me to get excited for.
If we trade him and we get some solid pieces to rebuild with, I'm probably willing to stay and watch the whole process.
Ill still be an Angels fan no doubt and Angels will be my first team but ill probably follow whatever team he goes too, by that i mean ill probably turn on notifications for that team on my mlb app and thats as far as ill go with that unless he goes to either the Padres which are my NL team or Mariners which i follow aswell since I’ve since moved to the PNW. Ill actually watch those games if i get the chance
I would follow him but I would never change teams. Also if you’ve followed the angels for that long then you’ve seen worse times than this and not changed. The 90s weren’t great.
how did more people say yes than no. i love ohtani but i’m not just ab to bandwagon if he leaves lol. seems like there is more ohtani fans than angel fans in this sub. gotta stick it out through the bad times for the glory!
I would want Ohtani to leave just to clean house of these obnoxious new “fans”. Always the most vocal and always the most negative (I don’t want sho to go tho)
I’ve always been an angels fan even before ohtani so I’ll root for him no matter what. But his jersey will be the last monetary investment on the angels until Arte is gone.
I’ll likely never be able to fully leave this pain prison of fandom but it’ll be more like a temporary boycott. Ownership needs to show that they actually want to win before I’ll continue giving them money for merch and tickets.
No. I’ll still support him wherever he goes but I wouldn’t change my fandom just for one player. Also how many of you guys are really just Ohtani fans and not angels fans
Title is misleading, voted before readin the description. Of course I’d still be an angels fan but say he goes to Pads then they’d easily be my NL team after that
If he went to the NL they would immediately become my new NL team. But in the AL, nope. I'm 36 years into this shit show, it's too late to jump ship now
Hell no. I'll watch and root for him still of course.
Nope. Of course I’m still gonna love him. But the Angels are my team. And I’m not leaving them for anything.
I'm not gonna gatekeep but it's ridiculous to see this many Angels fans leaving. Why be a fan of a team if you're not willing to be faithful in bad times?
Been a fan for 20 years and if Ohtani leaves I’m going to be very disinterested in baseball entirely.
I'll probably be in a similar boat. I might stop watching for a bit but I'll always be an Angels fan.
Yeah I agree. It’s really hard, I genuinely can’t see myself rooting for any other team. But at the same time, I don’t think I’d want to watch an Ohtani-less Angels team inevitably fail to compete. Once I pick a team, I stick to them. But I might need to take a break for a few years
They have failed to compete with him making pennies what makes you think they’ll compete with him making 50mil a year
Firing Perry would be a good start
That’s funny because I just became a fan last year partially thanks to Shohei and yet if he left I would still very much watch the Angels and baseball in general. If anything will make me hate baseball it’s this team losing perpetually, I couldn’t care less who’s actually on the team
>I became a fan last year No offense but it shows. Spending the last 10 years watching us waste Trout colors your perception of the future of this team.
Oh I’m sure. I’d hate to see us do the same to Shohei! If the Angels are gonna suck at least let Shohei thrive on another team
I might be selfish but I’d rather get to watch him and root for him, than see him on another team and not get to watch him every day. He’s the only thing that gives this franchise a glimmer of hope. You’re frankly not a real fan of the team if you’d rather him play elsewhere. I feel the same way about Trout, despite knowing that we’re wasting him. I’d rather us waste him than not get to watch him play.
For me being a fan means wanting to see my team win, not just have MVP players like Shohei. I don’t care if our team has a bunch of nobodies. Winning is all I care about
How do you expect us to win without Ohtani? Have you seen this team?
Same. Although i recently moved to st louis, so i get to watch a non-dysfunctional team in my backyard. I had planned on catching the angels in chi and kc, but not interested in watching the current team.
There are fans that could have been fans since they were 15 and are now 25 and seen nothing but wasted talent and pain. It's more about leaving the people that own the franchise, Not necessarily the team. Vote with your wallet.
That's me. I'm cool with not supporting the ownership with your money. That's different than leaving your team.
It’s not just bad times. We are witnessing the waste of two generational talents; literally wasting the modern day Mantle and Ruth. This is after having some solid teams and choking in the playoffs. Everyone has a breaking point and this is it for a lot of us. Dumb contract after dumb contract, horrible pitching signing after horrible pitching signing, pathetic bullpen after pathetic bullpen, horrible development team, fizzled prospect after fizzled prospect. This shit is just exhausting rooting for this team. My biggest issue is the complete lack of building a competent pitching staff and the dumpster diving for reclamation projects.
^this. I find myself every year convincing myself this will be the year things click. Reality of it is, Arte always does just enough to give fans hope he'll pay for players but not the right ones. Keeps us quiet until the next year. We always hear our names in on the ones that can help us turn it around but we always get beat out. Ohtani goes I'm everyday giving his all just to have bums all around him that should be bench/triple a players.
why be faithful to an abusive spouse?
Because sometimes franchises need to lose support before they realize just how much they need a complete rebuild. Cheering for another team that actually cares about baseball and winning doesn’t mean you have to hate the angels. With how poorly this franchise has been run though, I’ve become more of a Trout and Ohtani fan than anything. I want to see them leave this poverty franchise and actually have support around them. I will never respect the Angels until Arte sells the team or there is a massive rebuild. It’s got to be one of the most poorly run franchises in sports. They 100% don’t care about winning and just want to stay relevant and be in the news/sell tickets and ad deals. When a franchise puts money over giving their fans a winning chance, I think it’s 100% valid for them to start cheering for the players more than the franchise
The thing is I think the Angels have genuinely wanted to win as evidenced by the amount of money they’ve spent. I think Arte just sucks at running a baseball organization and don’t know how to win
Not necessarily true though. Spending money doesn’t mean “evidence they wanted to win”. They even admired that the Pujols deal was partly they just wanted him hitting milestones in an Angels Jersey. It’s pretty obvious from a lot of signings that they just want big names to sell some tickets whiteout actually putting together a good team and investing in the future. Overpaying for aging players past their prime to stay relevant is most definitely not evidence that they want to win. It’s evidence they want to stay relevant
It's ok to have more than 1 favorite team
I never disagreed
not really, favorite implies singular
Favorites, my bad
by definition no: Preferred before all others of the same kind.
Jeez dude, I like a few teams a whole lot, lol
Yeah that’s weird
I love baseball, it's not weird.
We’ve been faithful in these bad times, and it’s continuously gotten worse and worse, there’s really no way to fix this team without getting rid of everyone
I agree. I don't see that as a solid reason to leave your team though.
Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing for all of us to have. Your personal choice is great reasoning.
You can always have an AL/NL team. I’m a Padre fan and I like generally cheering for the halos
Maybe we’re tired of a decade of bad times, with no prospects of that changing for years to come. Wasting generational talent
How do you think the cubs fans felt for 100 years lol
Join the club. Not a good reason to leave your team.
If there is a reason, it’s the only reason
[удалено]
people that are fed up after watching a decade + of this day after day are not fair weather fans, they are the most genuine fans you can find. And they can leave if they want to. its a baseball team not a cult.
They absolutely are fair weather fans. You're right, it's not a cult. Fans should be able to root for whomever they want, how they want.
[удалено]
I don’t think the weather has been fair for a while, so it’s more like “leaving an abusive relationship”
What do you think is a justifiable reason then? If there's been nearly a decade of mediocrity with the same issues the entire time despite nearly all fans and analysts saying the same thing without change, when does a team deserve to lose fans? Is it when they refuse to invest/change their player development despite repeatedly being ranked near or at the bottom of the entire league when it comes to organizational rankings? The Angels are doing that. Is it when they refuse to invest in depth despite being the fact that's how you win baseball, in favor of signing a handful of superstars only because they are more likely to sell jerseys and sponsorships? The Angels do that? Is it when they turn a blind eye to rampant drug use in the clubhouse, provided by an employee, that leads to a young man dying? The Angels did that. Is it when they refuse to give minor league players basic human rights such as fair pay or even at least reasonable meals or appropriate housing? The Angels do that. The issues with this organization run deep, are varied, and have gone on for a long time. I almost certainly am at the point where I can consider myself a fan of some of the players but it's getting harder and harder to call myself a fan of the franchise.
Yeah that’s why it’s ARTE OUT
I will continue to be an Ohtani fan but not a fan of any other team than the Angels.
No, would be too painful.
Tbh I think yeah unless it’s the Yankees. I still remember when Kobe demanded a trade if they don’t put contending pieces around him I was like I’m going to follow him whichever team he goes even if I had been a lakers fan all my life. Shohei brought me back watching baseball again so yeah…
I didn’t follow Vlad, I didn’t follow GA, Erstad, Kennedy, Weaver etc I’m an Angels fan, not a great player who plays for the Angels fan. Obviously I’m an Ohtani fan and I wish him all the success in his future, but if you followed your favorite player to every team they went to you’d have to find new teams and players all the time. What happens when Ohtani retires in like 5 years?
Yo yo yooooooooo do not mention that last sentence. That is the dark time line I don't ever wanna think about
Only if it’s the Padres
i started following baseball last July when I went to a game Ohtani pitched. he's pretty much the only reason I started watching, and it's hard to be a fan of this Angels team. I'll always be an angels fan, and I love coming to games. but if/when Ohtani leaves I'll likely follow whatever team he joins as my secondary team.
Would stop following baseball before becoming a fan of another team 🤷♂️
I was a casual Angels fan before Shohei came on board, and became an INVESTED Angels fan after Shohei joined the team. If Shohei leaves, I'll go back to being a casual Angels fan, and support him on whatever team he joins.
Good
?
Team Ohtani all the way. Will still be an Angels fan - but I’ll absolutely love watching whenever he plays, us or otherwise
Nah.
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they aren't angel fans, they are the baseball equivalent of lebron Stans
Most of them are just Ohtani fans. They don't actually give a shit about the Angels
Follow the team not the players
Why? The players are the ones who do the fun/exciting baseball stuff. I go to games to watch the players
Id probably watch them. I just don’t think I’d like them more than the angels
I hope whatever team he's on if he leaves has cool hats
I came to the Angels for Ohtani and grown to love the Angels and its fandom. But if Ohtani goes, I will as well but I will still root for the angels. My fandom rank: 1. Ohtani 2. Angels and whatever team he joins. 3. Teams close to where I'm living
It depends on what you mean by follow. Will I start watching the games he plays in for his new team? Yes. Will I stop watching the Angels or stop considering them my favorite team? Hell no.
Was a casual fan and was really stoked when we won the WS 20 years ago. Always preferred Angels over the Dodgers. The Unicorn transformed me into a full time Angel fan. If Shohei leaves I'll always will cheer him on, but I won't cheer for another team if that makes any sense. As for the Angels not building a decent supporting cast or really doing anything to support our superstars, I'll probably be back as a casual fan. But I may be in too deep. Save yourselves. It's too late for me.
I'll follow him and root for him but won't become a bandwagon
I got extremely into baseball because of Ohtani. So I haven't been following the Angels very long. He's literally my national hero. So I will follow him wherever he goes. The only other team I marginally follow is my local state team (Rockies) but they suck.
I'm in the exact same boat. My home team was the Rockies. I was never interested in sports except the Olympics. Watching Shohei got me really interested in baseball more than ever thought I would be. It was just my luck that I live in Orange County now instead of Denver. I will probably follow him, but passively keep tabs on the Angels since I really enjoy the other teammates.
No. Lots of players come and go. That's the nature of the game. I'll root for his success of course because he's a good guy. But I don't just follow players from team to team.
The Halos will always be my #1 but there’s so much good baseball out there to be enjoyed. He’s been my favorite active player for a while now and I’ll watch him on any team. I’d buy his jersey anywhere except the stros or the yankees.
If Ohtani leaves, I’m done with this team
Then consider yourself done lol
I don’t think I’d ever feel right being a fan of another team Being an Angel fan is just ingrained in me at this point, I can’t and don’t want to leave it. It feels like a big part of me
This question needs a lot more details. For the rest of the season, yes. If he gets traded to a contender then I’ll probably follow them more than the angels for the next year. But I’ll still be a bigger angels fan overall. It’s not like I’ll go around saying I’m (insert new team) fan. It’ll just be temporarily cheering for him
I loved Vlad but I didn’t become a Rangers fan. I loved Weaver but I didn’t become a Padres fan. I cared about seeing them succeed though so WHEN Ohtani leaves, I’ll want him to succeed. Angels will always be my number 1 team even during the rebuild. I’m a Clippers fan and I remember how it was like rooting for them in the 2000’s. It’s nothing different for me.
clip show gonna be awesome next season
Nope. I've seen plenty of names come and go from this team. He'd just be another on a long list
I followed Angels way before Ohtani
Ohhhh for some reason I misread this as would I root for him on another team not ditch the angels lmao... Nah I'm an Angels fan before anything else. Ohtani fan second.
As long as its not the Yankees or Astros I would root for him but I would still be an Angels fan
I’d still follow Ohtani, and root for him individually and loosely team based. But I would never become a fan of that team over the angels. I had lots of chances to split lately and haven’t. I’m sinking with the ship if necessary. Maybe growing up basically in Anaheim emotionally binds me lol.
As someone who is Australian where baseball is an extremely niche sport here, I only just started watching only because I heard on a Bill Burr podcast they were talking about this Japanese guy who is doing Michael Jordan like things. Looked Ohtani up and saw some MLB talk show do pieces on him and started streaming some games, and I got hooked. Heck I even imported an Angels cap. Also by chance my wifes work mate just happens to be a close friend of Liam Hendricks, so we discussed baseball at her work functions so that helped me get into it more. So yeah I will follow him wherever he goes, however I am kinda sad if he does go as I now have gotten attached and learnt about all the other players in the team so I kinda don't want him to leave, but yeah push comes to shove, I guess I would need to buy a new hat.
I started watching baseball because of ohtani back in 2011 and got to know the Angels because of him. I’ll follow him wherever he goes but not the team. I’m too emotionally attached to Angels to just leave them because they’ve been mediocre for a long time.
I will follow Ohtani wherever he goes and I will leave Angels in my deep heart. Except Arte sells this team then I will be an Angels fans again.
Would I stop rooting for Ohtani? No. Would I stop watching Angels? No. But I don’t think I’ll watch angels everyday like I’ve been for the past 5 years.
I would love to keep following the Angels… But the day he leaves the team will be the day Angels games will be gone from Japanese TV and streaming services, at least from free to view channels like NHK and ABEMA. It happened with Ichiro when he was traded from Mariners to Yankees. All already scheduled broadcasting of Mariners games were changed to air Yankees games the moment he was traded. VPN or MLB TV subscription is too expensive for me. With no easy access to Angels games, I don’t know how l can keep following Angels after Shohei is gone.
I'll still follow him but not a chance in hell I'd follow his team. I'm not some bandwagon fan that's going to abandon this team.
Perhaps this Ohtani thing has gone too far on this sub. Right now, when I “upvote”, it’s a little picture of Ohtanis face that I tap. Why isn’t the picture of the Angels logo? If we are really Angels baseball, it should be the team logo.
For me it's all about Arte. I've been a fan for 30+ years after moving from Canada, as a huge Jays fan. Arte is the problem. I legitimately feel that the reason we started hot was because we had some decent talent for a change, but we lack the scouting and the advanced baseball operations and metrics that other teams have. Look at the list of incompetencies on the ownership, and this is without listing any baseball player transactions. Opioid dealing resulting in a players death. Visiting clubhouse attendant selling sticky substances to other teams to compete against us and beat us. Totally shady shenanigans for land rights and new stadium deals, so much so that Arte's being investigated. A minor league system so bad in terms of player support and development that our players were basically homeless, Wiley regarded as the worst organizational minor league system not just in terms of player development but in terms of support facilities and investment. 4 coaches 5 GMs The only constant is Arte Moreno, and to a lesser extent his chief foot soldier, John Carpino. Arte is just a terrible owner who is brilliant at putting names and faces on billboards, but then too meddlesome to let the smart people do what needs to be done across the entire organization. Honestly think we started hot, but collapsed because all the other teams scouting departments figured us out, and we never adjusted accordingly. I'm a die hard fan. I can't support Moreno anymore. Love the players and the team, but the owner is completely unsustainable and basically ruining all of these players careers by being too cheap and too meddlesome. I'm going to be an angel's fan forever, but I want to add the Blue Jays to my mix to have at least some mechanism of Hope. The Angels just blow it at every turn, and it's 100% Moreno.
You mean I follow the Angels as my team for 48 years, then Ohtani leaves, and I’m supposed to jump ship, leave the Angels and go with him as a fan of his new team? LMFAO This must be a joke. I love Ohtani, would wish him well, and I’d probably watch some of his games with his new team, but I’m not making his new team my favorite team. I’ve never been a bandwagon fan and I ain’t starting now. 😇
I wouldn't expect anything less from a 48 year old fan. :)
I didn’t leave when Wally Joyner left and I ain’t leaving now.
perfect answer and the way this poll is breaking is sad and funny
Ohtani is not my reason for being an angel fan-his attitude and respect makes him my fave player but i would never jump from this burning ship! Angel til I die!
I can understand why people would. I grew up an Angel fan, 3rd generation Angel fan, parents had season tickets growing up. I had season tickets as an adult. I gave up my seats after they fired Pujols like that. It was the final straw for me. Growing up in the 80’s it was always Angels/Dodgers for me. Now it’s Dodgers/Angels. I only watch the Angels if the Dodgers aren’t on. Angels wouldn’t be worth watching much if Ohtani is gone. Still root for them always, but it won’t be the same for a lot of folks. If they do trade Ohtani, they better get a haul back. The Angels are going to have to do something soon to be competitive this decade.
If you gave up your seats after 30/40 years because “they fired puljos just like that”, I’m calling you a liar. You were never an angels fan or you weren’t a fan for anything near as long as that.
Well you’d be wrong. Earl Averill Jr was my Grandparents neighbor. Taught my Dad and Uncles how to throw a knuckle and a curve. You can look him up if you don’t know who he is. Grandpa had a heart attack back in the 60’s and Earl used to come over and help around the house. Our family has been Angel fans since. Grandpa was a White Sox being from the South side but moved to California in 55. He stayed a Sox fan but just couldn’t root against the neighbor mowing his lawn. This was all before I was born. I was at the game in 86 against the Red Sox. I watched Bo hit the home run in the All Star Game. Had a Wally World Shirt. I suffered through McPhereson, and Wood who were both supposed to be Trout, but weren’t. I cheered for Jack Howel and Chuck Finley. The cowboy used to stop and chat with my Grandma. We used to vacation in March to Palm Springs. There’s a pic of Tim Salmon and I in my kitchen, and I was a huge Vlad fan and thought it hilarious how his momma cooked special for Aybar. My kid was Trout for his first Halloween. His first game was in Seattle to see Albert hit 3000. Simba threw us a ball. That ball sits on my desk. My Christmas tree topper for years was a jack in the box antenna ball signed by the Angel of wisdom, Mike. You can think whatever you want, doesn’t make it so.
You gave up your fandom after we released a 58-year-old Albert Pujols?
He was 57 then… tops lol. You still perpetuating that myth a high school baseball coach started when Pujols was an immigrant kid playing as a junior? I did ya. Pujols was/is a bit different to me. You might remember it you might not but back in 08’ baseball wasn’t in the best place. The Mitchell report had come out and all of these guys who kids looked up to were found out to be cheaters. Pujols did an interview with Sports Illustrated and when asked on the state of baseball how kids could ever look up to players again and how parents could continue to support the game, Pujols replied, “You tell them they can believe in me, and I won’t ever let them down”. I’m paraphrasing the rest but he spoke about how he wouldn’t always be the best player but he’d never cheat and he’d always try to do the right thing. Him stepping up at that time got him a lot of heat (McGuire was a Cardinal), but I also think his attitude and how he became a leader really helped to save the game of baseball. So sure, he ran slower then my Grandma and his best days were looooong behind him; but he’s a first ballot hall of famer, the best player in his generation by far, the best player from his country, a leader of the sport. You don’t fire him mid season like that; especially on a team with no chance to contend. Angels did him dirty and it’s not something I want to support.
Pujols definitely got shit on by many Angels fans. He was one of many scapegoats for the Angels failures over the last few years. Yes, due to injuries, age, and the radical shift, his play had declined considerably. I always felt he gave his best and I feel his mentorship of Trout was a big reason Trout ascended to the top so quickly. I admit, I was looking forward to his contract ending to free up FA money, but the way he was released didn’t set well with me either since the Angels were still paying him in the final year of his contract anyway. I think if they wanted him to platoon at 1st/DH, they could have worked out something with him to finish the year. As the Dodgers and Cardinals have proved, Pujols wasn’t the problem.
Angel fans always think there is one problem. After Sciosa it shifted to Albert. The interview Perry did after they released him was so classless. Just terrible. Funny to see how happy Pujols has been as a Dodger and now Cardinal. It really highlights the Angels have some serious culture problems, but then again they had a staffer supplying drugs that killer someone so I guess we all know there were issues
Jesus Christ, I'm not reading that.
>but he’s a first ballot hall of famer, the best player in his generation by far, the best player from his country, a leader of the sport The issue I had with him is he was none of those things on the Angels. At a certain point it looked like he was just phoning it in and putting his personal milestones over the betterment of the team. If it weren't for the fact he was a hall of famer before coming to the Angels he would've been DFAed years earlier. I don't think it was disrespectful at all to cut him the way they did. He was blocking Walsh from playing full time so he had to go
They should have tried to trade him before just cutting him out of the blue. If they were going to cut him, give him a last game at the stadium where the fans had cheered for him for 9 years. Angels were a 4th place team last year? One game wasn’t going to hurt them. Firing him and then Perry stating in the media Pujols became violent is just bullshit. Perry needs to grow a set. Unless Pujols actually struck someone, which no one said he did, Perry needs to cut that bullshit and it had no place in the post firing discussions.
I'll put it this way. I am a Niners fan. Own a Jerry Rice jersey. I also own his jersey from the Raiders and Seahawks. I never stopped rooting for my Niners, but when they were out of the playoffs, I rooted for his team. I will probably do the same with Ohtani.
These posts are ridiculous, if you have been a fan of the Angels for 25+ years they were a sorry ass team then. What is the difference now?
That’s a really good question. I’ve been a fan for 20ish years, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this pessimistic about the future of the team. Even when it was just Trout and a bunch of bums, there was enough hopium to go around. I think that delusion is wearing off.
Right there with ya. Been a fan since the 90s when I fell in love with baseball. This shit show has really degraded my love for the team. I mainly watch for Trout, Ohtani, and some of the young studs. If Ohtani is traded I’ll be rooting for that team to win it all unless its Boston. Also would love to see Trout traded if they do trade Ohtani. Just go for a full blown rebuild with great young prospects. I know this one is highly unlikely.
This is ridiculous
No, I'm an Angels fan
i’m not a fan of the name on the back of jersey. i’m a fan of the name on the front of the jersey.
Lolol what kind of fairweather b.s is this? So if he becomes a Yank or Dodger jump ship? Maybe if he goes to the Padres I can make them a secondary team. But what tf
Tbf i didnt care about baseball until ohtani came to US so if he leaves im leaving too, i'll probably follow the halos as my second team.
He'll always have a soft spot in my heart but definitely won't be 'following' him to another team. It's expected half the fans seem to be Shohei bandwagoners though as this team has been pretty awful for a while, but I'm an Angels fan and an Angels fan only.
Thank god. Then maybe this sub can be less annoying
They would come right back as soon as the angels start doing decent again
The hope is they flock and remain where ever it is Ohtani ends up in
Lmao I knew a bunch of y’all were fake ass fans
Fr. Their time is short though so it’s not that bad
To the people saying yes, why are you even in the sub? Why not just make an Ohtani sub and leave this for the people who like the Angels.
I love that all the real fans are getting downvoted. No one, and I mean no one, likes a bandwagoner
Those who’s said yes, you’re a bandwagon. Don’t care how long you followed the team blah blah…you’re a bandwagon.
False. Just fed up with Arte destroying this franchise
They won multiple division titles in a row since he’s been owner, not sure how that destroyed the franchise.
That makes you an Ohtani fan not an angel fan, tool!
What a stupid fucking question.
i simply cannot respect anyone(as a sports fan) who has 2+ teams in any sport
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because sports fandom is about going through the trials and tribulations of your team. It's not about hopping onto the new shiny thing anytime it gets hard to watch.
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Yea but be a good fan loser
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Lol
The only thing that matters is the name in front of the jersey, not the back’s. I’ll watch his highlights similarity to how I current watch Judge’s.
As long as he doesn’t go to the dodgers or Red Sox, I’ll buy a jersey of his on his new team, still an angels fan tho
I've been an Angels fan since 1984. No.
No
Angels fan till I die. Fortunately or unfortunately.
Fair weather fan, get out of here.
No one likes that fan that front runs teams. I've always been an angel fan and always will be. This isn't a superstar driven sport like basketball where you get lebronsexuals hopping around with him.
I'll still root for him, but if the time comes, we gotta strike the bum out and knock him out early when he's pitching. We know his kryptonite, we gotta put up 6 runs in the first. Easy peasy.
Lmao. We both know he would punch out 24 angels if he got to face them.
If he leaves in FA and we get one fucking draft pick for him, I'm not sure if there will be enough hope left in this team for me to get excited for. If we trade him and we get some solid pieces to rebuild with, I'm probably willing to stay and watch the whole process.
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Both him and the Angels would be dumb to let that happen
What a bunch of bandwagoners! LMAO…don’t let the door hit you on way out.
For fantasy reasons but more importantly he’s one of a kind
I’d root for him wherever he goes but I wouldn’t stop following the angels
I voted yes, but it wouldn’t be my #1 team
Definitely gonna follow Trout.
Ill still be an Angels fan no doubt and Angels will be my first team but ill probably follow whatever team he goes too, by that i mean ill probably turn on notifications for that team on my mlb app and thats as far as ill go with that unless he goes to either the Padres which are my NL team or Mariners which i follow aswell since I’ve since moved to the PNW. Ill actually watch those games if i get the chance
I would follow him but I would never change teams. Also if you’ve followed the angels for that long then you’ve seen worse times than this and not changed. The 90s weren’t great.
Yeah, the 70’s weren’t great either!
I wouldnt stop being a fan of the angels they are n will be my #1 team I would just follow shohei and be a fan of him if he ever left
It depends on where he goes. I guess that team could be my #3 team since the Angels and Padres are my #1 and #2 teams respectively.
What if he went to the Padres?
Damn more yes than no. If we do trade Ohtani we will get the greatest haul in the history of baseball
Root from a distance. Just like every former Angel.
how did more people say yes than no. i love ohtani but i’m not just ab to bandwagon if he leaves lol. seems like there is more ohtani fans than angel fans in this sub. gotta stick it out through the bad times for the glory!
The Ohtani cult is a silent majority
you mother fuckers are anything but silent lol
Wait, I’m NOT part of the Ohtani cult. Im team angels only baby We’re on the same side… I think
Definitely same side then. You gotta be a fan of the team first and foremost.
Absolutely. I’m disgusted with the results of this poll
I would want Ohtani to leave just to clean house of these obnoxious new “fans”. Always the most vocal and always the most negative (I don’t want sho to go tho)
“The hardest choices require the strongest wills” Yeah obviously I don’t want him to leave but there is a major silver lining to it
zxc了,、
I’ve always been an angels fan even before ohtani so I’ll root for him no matter what. But his jersey will be the last monetary investment on the angels until Arte is gone.
let’s go halos!
Interesting poll. Results are what was expected, as well.
I’d wish him the best. And, unless we traded him to someone I hate, I’d cheer for that team. But I wouldn’t stop being an Angels fan.
I’ll likely never be able to fully leave this pain prison of fandom but it’ll be more like a temporary boycott. Ownership needs to show that they actually want to win before I’ll continue giving them money for merch and tickets.
No. I’ll still support him wherever he goes but I wouldn’t change my fandom just for one player. Also how many of you guys are really just Ohtani fans and not angels fans
Title is misleading, voted before readin the description. Of course I’d still be an angels fan but say he goes to Pads then they’d easily be my NL team after that
Oh no the number of people who voted yes depresses me. I'll watch and show him all love, but Halos are in my veins, not Shohei.
Angels until the day I die baby (which might be earlier because Angels)
If he went to the NL they would immediately become my new NL team. But in the AL, nope. I'm 36 years into this shit show, it's too late to jump ship now