Who’ll Be Better: Trout’s Angels or Harper’s Phillies in 2019?
Bryce Harper has a brand new team. Mike Trout is on the same team. As two former top prospects coming up at the same time, these players have long been compared against one another; who is better, who adds more value?
This continues in 2019 with top online betting outlets like Bovada sportsbook listing Bryce Harper and Mike Trout as the front runners for MVP.
2018 vs. 2019
The Los Angeles Angels have made some big moves over the last few seasons. In some ways, they have been one of the more disappointing teams in baseball. Albert Pujols notwithstanding, how do you have that much talent and end up 4th in the AL West with 80 wins.
The Philadelphia Phillies had a nearly identical season but accomplished it in a very different way. They also went 80-82. On their way up, rather than treading water with Mike Trout, the Phillies possibly felt more enthusiastic about their chances because they played in a weaker division (in 2018) so they ended up finishing 3rd.
But what about this upcoming season? What is the outlook for the two teams with two of the best players in the league?
Projected Wins
We already know that each of these teams won 80 last season. But what are their projections by the big betting brains in Las Vegas for 2019?
The Los Angeles Angels are expected to improve from 80 wins to 82.5 (OVER/UNDER) so you can look at that half-win as the sportsbooks putting them around 82 or 83 wins, but with the half number, there is no push.
Seemingly every October, we look back and see that Mike Trout’s services were wasted yet again. But what about now? Matt Harvey will be slinging from the rubber this year and the bullpen has been bolstered with Cody Allen. The Japanese Babe is coming off Tommy John’s so we won’t see him in the pitching line up for a while, but he should be hacking away at DH soon enough. Plus the Angels picked up a reliable hitting catcher from the A’s in Jonathan Lucroy.
But in the AL West, is 83 or even 85 wins enough to make a run at the playoffs? Doubtful. Unless the A’s and Astros take a heavy slide in the wrong direction, the best the Angels can hope for with those numbers in the middle of the pack.
The Phillies’ projections have jumped from 80 wins to 89.5. This means that top handicappers think they have a legitimate shot at a 90-win season. And that optimism comes from the overhaul of the lineup. They have newcomers Andrew McCutchen leading off, Bryce Harper likely to bat third, and JT Realmuto cleaning up.
On the other side of the diamond, they have Jake Arrieta in the starting rotation. He may not be the Cy Young guy he was a few years ago – that’s Aaron Nola‘s for the 2019 Phillies now – but he is still a reliable ace with a 1.33 WHIP. With Nick Pivetta, Vince Valasquez and Zach Eflin in the rotation, the Phillies starters are no push-overs.
Considering the additions on both sides, I am going to go one step further and say the Phils win 91 games. They will surge past the Nationals and compete with the Atlanta Braves for the top of the NL East. It’s likely that we’ll see them at the very least in the hunt for a wild card spot this year.
So, which team will be better? Projections don’t actually mean anything and we won’t truly know until the season is fully underway, but we have to think that the Phillies have a much better probability of a postseason appearance than the Angels. Even if Los Angeles also wins 90 games, the Astros broke 103 and the A’s 97 last year. Then there are the Sox and Yanks out east that are two 100-win teams, which makes that wildcard spot all the tougher over in the AL.
