Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Must Be Frustrated by These Playoffs

Jerry DiPoto, the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, must be grinding his teeth watching these playoffs unfold.

The Detroit Tigers are one win away from sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Barring a complete collapse, the Tigers will represent the American League in the World Series.

And DiPoto must be thinking, "We had a better record than they did!"

Nobody can blame DiPoto for the Angels falling just short of the playoffs. Any general manager who brings in Albert Pujols, C. J. Wilson and Zack Grienke is clearly being proactive.

Sure, not all of the moves worked, but adding Pujols and seeing the emergence of Mike Trout, the great year of Jered Weaver and big highlights from Mark Trumbo and Torii Hunter meant that the Angels were stacked with talent.

An extra win here and there and they would have been the Wild Card.

The Angels would have been similar to this Tigers team.—maybe not winning 95 games in the regular season, but with the extraordinary talent pool to win in a short series.

With the way that Texas, Oakland, Baltimore, Detroit and the Yankees have had trouble scoring runs, DiPoto must be envisioning Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Zack Greinke and C. J. Wilson finding their groove. And, of course, Albert Pujols providing protection for Mike Trout and company to scratch out a few runs.

Essentially, the Tigers and Angels were built for the postseason more than for the regular season. And it is Detroit who is reaping the benefits.

DiPoto must be watching the postseason and thinking, "That should be us."

Perhaps he should not call Albert Pujols to commiserate. He is probably watching the Cardinals in the NLCS again thinking, "I thought they were going to miss me."