1995 California Angels: From Breakthrough to Heartbreak
1995 should hold a special place in the memory of California Angels fans. A franchise that hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since 1989 turned itself around and became a contender. But a dramatic late-season collapse cost them a playoff spot and instead put 1995 into a regrettable pantheon of Angels’ lore that included postseason heartbreak in 1982 and 1986.
A LINEUP THAT COULD HIT
The American League’s second-best offense vaulted the Halos into the race, and that offense was keyed by a productive outfield. Tim Salmon was in rightfield and hit .330, with 34 home runs and 105 RBIs. Jim Edmonds hit 33 homers and drove in 107 runs playing centerfield. And rookie leftfielder Garrett Anderson hit .321.
That outfield trio got help from first baseman J.T. Snow, with his 24 home runs and 102 ribbies. Tony Phllips was the other side of the infield. The 36-year-old hit 27 homers. Gary Discarcina played shortstop and batted .307.
JUST ENOUGH PITCHING
A pair of veteran lefthanders, Chuck Finley and Mark Langston, anchored the pitching staff, combining for 66 starts. In an era we now know to be rife with PED usage, ERAs were suffering around the league, but Finley and Langston came in at 4.21 and 4.63 respectively. In the world of the mid-to-late 1990s it was enough to compete, and each pitcher won 15 games.
Manager Marcel Lachemann had difficulty with depth and no one else made more than twenty starts. Jim Abbott started 13 games and finished with a 4.15 ERA. Otherwise, nights that Finley and Langston didn’t pitch were an adventure.
Lee Smith, the Hall of Fame closer, was nearing the end of his career at age 37, but the Angels signed him in the offseason and Smith stabilized the back end of the bullpen with 37 saves. Troy Percival, a good young reliever on the rise, worked 74 innings and finished with a 1.95 ERA. Mike James and Bob Patterson were respectable in mid-to-long relief.
The bullpen, along with the top of the rotation were enough to keep California’s staff respectable and they finished sixth in a 14-team American League for composite ERA.
A FAST START IN A STRANGE SEASON
1995 had a delayed start. The strike that canceled the 1994 season in August persisted into spring training, with threats of using replacement players. That didn’t happen, but the truncated 144-game schedule of ’95 didn’t begin until late April.
California split their first eight games and then hosted AL West rivals Seattle and Texas. They won four of six games over the Mariners and Rangers and scored 35 runs in the process. Later in May, a six-game winning streak included a three-game home sweep over the contending New York Yankees, where the Angels outscored the Yanks 28-3.
By Memorial Day, California was sitting on a 19-11 record and held a two-game lead in the AL West.
The early part of summer was uneven. The Angels went 6-7 in a stretch against AL East opponents and lost six of ten on a road trip to play their AL West rivals. In between, they won six of nine against also-rans from the AL Central.
In the final week before the All-Star break, California won four of seven games. They were 39-30, tied for first with Texas, up four games on the Oakland A’s and plus-five on Seattle. This was also the first year Major League Baseball would have a wild-card in its postseason—albeit only one. The Angeles were up 2 ½ in that race.
THE LATE SUMMER SURGE
California came surging out of the break. A 15-3 stretch was highlighted by taking three of five from the Cleveland Indians, who were on their way to the World Series. The lead in the AL West soared to ten games and Seattle came to Anaheim to begin the month of August.
In Tuesday night’s opener, Salmon got after Mariner ace Randy Johnson with three hits and a home run. Brian Anderson pitched for California and gave six good innings. The Angels led 3-2 in the eighth and then broke it open with four runs, en route to a 7-2 win.
Salmon kept it going on Wednesday night with two more hits. Garrett Anderson also had a pair of hits, including a home run. Lee Smith closed out a 5-4 win. Even though Abbott got roughed up in the Thursday finale, a 10-7 loss, California had taken the series and kept their momentum going.
The Angels went on to win eight of their next twelve games. On August 16, they were a comfortable 10 ½ games clear of the field. They looked home free.
THE COLLAPSE BEGINS
But things unraveled and they did so in a hurry. A 17-game stretch against the AL East was nothing short of a disaster, producing a 3-14 record. By September 10, California’s lead was cut to five games, with Seattle now in the rearview mirror. The Angels led the Yankees by 6 ½ games for the wild-card spot.
It was less than ideal ,but still no reason to panic at this late stage of the season. The problem is that even though the Angels stabilized and played .500 ball over the next couple of weeks, the Mariners and Yankees were both surging. The lead narrowed to three games in the division and a precarious one game for the wild-card.
And then another disastrous week came. California went to Oakland and got swept and lost two of three in Texas.
The Angels entered the final week of the season now trailing the Mariners by two games and a ½ game back of the Yankees. It was a scenario no one would have predicted a month earlier. At least California had an opportunity to help themselves—a two-game series in Seattle was coming up.
FIGHTING FOR AIR
Tuesday night’s opener in the old Kingdome could not have gone much worse, ending in a 10-2 loss. The Yankees also won, so deficits were now at (-3) in the AL West and (-1 1/2) in the wild-card.
Finley got the ball on Wednesday, and the season felt effectively on the line. The veteran lefthander delivered a masterpiece. He pitched 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Percival and Smith combined to retire the last eight hitters in succession, preserving a 2-0 win.
The Yankees still won, but at least the Angels would host Oakland with their chances still alive.
SLUGGING FOR SURVIVAL
Langston pitched Thursday night’s opener against the A’s, and delivered, again with Percival and Smith cleaning up behind him. While the Mariners won and kept the Angels two games back, the Yankees were idle. California had shifted the half-game in their favor and were just one back for the wild-card.
The offense rose up on Friday. Snow, and infielder Rex Hudler each had four hits and the Angels won 9-6. But they had to watch in disappointment as Seattle rallied in the eighth inning for a win and New York did the same in the ninth. The margins were still (-2) for the division and (-1) for the wild-card with two games to play.
Snow kept hitting on Saturday, with three hits, including a three-run homer. Veteran Chili Davis hit a three-run bomb of his own. California cruised to a 9-3 win. New York answered and kept pace. But Seattle lost. The Angels went into the final day trailing by a single game in both races.
ONE LAST CHANCE
A weird tiebreaker situation now loomed. If California finished in a straight two-way tie with either team it would be settled the conventional way, with a one-game playoff on Monday. But what if it landed in a three-way tie?
Under that scenario, the Angels and Mariners would play off for the AL West crown. But since the game would be counted towards the regular season it would slip the loser behind the Yankees. In a three-way tie, New York would automatically get the wild-card spot by default.
It was an outdated rule, and one MLB would thankfully fix in future years. For now, it hurt both AL West contenders. Although coming into this Sunday, the Angels were just hoping to have any kind of chance to play into Monday.
And they got it. The offense continued to come through. This time it was Edmonds unloading, with four hits and three RBIs. Salmon had two hits. California cruised to an 8-2 win.
New York took care of their business and clinched the wild-card. But Seattle lost again. There would be a one-game AL West tiebreaker on Monday afternoon in the Kingdome.
RANDY JOHNSON ENDS IT
Langston squared off with Johnson and both lefties were sharp through six innings. But Johnson was a bit sharper, holding the Angels to three hits on the afternoon. California trailed 1-0 going into the seventh. Then the roof fell in, with complete collapse over the next two innings. The game ended in a 9-1 loss and the season was over.
If you had told any California fan in April that they would play beyond the regular season at all, it would have sounded great, given where the franchise had been. But when that comes after being 10 ½ games up in the middle of August, it’s going to fall on deaf ears. It’s an unfortunate reality that a season marked by overachievement took its place in the growing lore of franchise disappointments.
Moreover, the Angels didn’t recover. They collapsed in 1996. They had some decent teams towards the end of the decade, but no real contenders until they finally made the big breakthrough and won the World Series in 2002.