Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout not enough to power Opening Day win

By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer

ANAHEIM, California — This town, this season, will offer a remarkable case study of how far superstars can carry one major-league roster.

On opening night at Angel Stadium, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon kept their team within reach of the class of the American League. But the Angels came up just short — a few inches wide, really — in their efforts to unseat the pennant-winning Astros.

Ohtani started and starred but couldn’t complete five innings because of the Astros’ patience and his wildness. Trout reached base twice and made it on once more because of a speed-forced error. Rendon completed two impressive plays at third base. 

But neither Rendon nor Ohtani, the hitter, could convert on late chances in which they represented the tying run at bat. Houston’s balanced attack prevailed 3-1 over the Angels’ star-laden squad.

It was 93 degrees when Ohtani took the mound Thursday night before a raucous, sold-out stadium. Fans made clear that they were there to see him and the most popular of his teammates.

The Angels, of course, remain comically top-heavy. Ohtani, atop their order, just logged perhaps the best season in baseball history. Trout, to date, has been one of the best players in baseball history. Rendon, hitting third, is a generational talent. 

But their No. 4 hitter, journeyman Matt Duffy, signed for $1.5 million three weeks ago. Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, received louder cheers than Duffy during the customary Opening Day pregame introductions.

There is talent within the rest of the Angels’ lineup, but most of it is not yet realized, such as former top prospect Jo Adell and his .593 career OPS. Comfortably carving through the weak bottom of the Angels’ lineup, Astros starter Framber Valdez did not throw more than 14 pitches in an inning until the seventh Thursday.

The Astros, by contrast, ran out an Opening Day lineup that might be better in the middle third than the top third. No. 4 hitter Yordan Álvarez was last year’s ALCS MVP. No. 5 hitter Yuli Gurriel was last year’s AL batting champion. No. 6 hitter Kyle Tucker was by far the AL’s best hitter in the second half.

Against that fearsome lineup, Ohtani surrendered only one run, in the third inning, when Michael Brantley doubled and Alex Bregman singled him in. Had Adell, in left field, cleanly fielded Bregman’s single and thrown accurately home, Ohtani might have surrendered nothing. Had Adell taken the right first step and corralled Chas McCormick’s fifth-inning drive, Ohtani could have finished five innings.

As it was, he was wild and lucky enough that he struck out nine in his 4 2/3 innings, more strikeouts than the Astros’ pitchers logged in the entire contest.

As his final at-bat approached, more than an hour after he was pulled, Ohtani said, he "almost forgot" he had pitched Thursday. He remained in the game, Angels manager Joe Maddon noted, only because of a new rule instituted for him this offseason. Two-way players are now permitted to both pitch and DH and leave one role while staying in the other.

"You gotta be great," Astros manager Dusty Baker said before the game, "for them to change the rule for you."

Ohtani is great, and he is attention-grabbing. He graced the cover of Time magazine this week. If he can exceed his 2021, repeat it or even come close, he will likely become a far bigger star than even Trout has ever reached. No one considers that an easy task, though.

"You just wonder," Baker summarized Thursday, "how long he can do this."

After a few seconds of thought, Baker said he expects Ohtani’s hitting career to last longer than his pitching career. Age, he said, will catch up to him eventually. 

Then he asked how old Ohtani is. Told 27, Baker laughed. Maybe it won't catch up to him anytime soon.

"Not for a while," Baker said.

Ohtani will be an Angel for at least two more seasons, seasons the Angels must turn into playoff runs if they are to secure his services for the long term. The industry believes in the team more this year than in the recent past, but skeptics still abound. And buoyed by the bubbly Maddon, the Angels are again convinced they will contend.

"I loved everything about us today," Maddon said after the team’s defeat.

Before it, Trout noted the excitement in the room.

"I say it every year," he said, "but the vibe’s definitely different this year."

He says it every year because the Angels have not made the playoffs since 2014, despite his success and, more recently, Ohtani’s. They won 77 games last year, in part because Trout and Rendon were hurt and in part because their role players didn’t perform.

Reliever Archie Bradley, one of the Angels’ most energetic players, held a similar role with the upstart 2017 Diamondbacks, who followed a 93-loss season with a 93-win season. He compared the feeling around the 2022 Angels to that team.

"It’s a good mix, man," he said as he looked around the clubhouse Thursday afternoon. "You have superstar players that, in the best way, are super low-key. It’s a great mix of superstars with some young guys, who, if they do their job, man, it’s gonna be really fun over here."

Those are the ifs that will define the Angels’ 2022 season. On Thursday, their mix was insufficient.

Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He most recently covered the Dodgers for three seasons for The Athletic. Previously, he spent five years covering the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times. More previously, he covered his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up in the Southern California suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.