Shohei Ohtani Says He Has 'Negative Impression' of Angels Season After Losing Record

Shohei Ohtani is not happy the Los Angeles Angels missed the playoffs with a 73-89 record.

While he granted it was "a good season for me personally" during an interview at Tokyo's Haneda Airport upon his return home to Japan, he was less pleased the team continued a postseason drought that dates back to the 2014 campaign.

"I have to say that August and September in particular felt longer to me than last year," Ohtani said, per Koji Ueda of the Associated Press. "We were not able to play as many good games as we would like, including 14 consecutive losses. So I have a rather negative impression of this season."

Ohtani was right about his individual efforts.

The 2021 American League MVP built on his performance from last year and finished with a .273/.356/.519 slash line, 34 home runs, 95 RBI and 11 stolen bases as an offensive player to go with a 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings as a pitcher.

He is one of the most unique players in baseball history with the ability to dominate a game as a pitcher and hitter, and Aaron Judge's historic season with an American League-record 62 home runs may be the only reason he doesn't take home back-to-back MVP awards.

Yet the issue for the Angels has been piling up losses despite having two of the top players in the league in Ohtani and Mike Trout.

The team fired manager Joe Maddon following a 27-29 start that included 14 consecutive losses in May and June. The end result was a seventh straight losing campaign and a team that is looking up at the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

There may be some long-term questions with the team as well considering manager Phil Nevin enters the 2023 season with a one-year deal and Ohtani is just under contract through 2023 after agreeing to a one-year, $30 million deal to avoid arbitration.

Ohtani was even the subject of trade rumors at times this season, although general manager Perry Minasian told reporters the one-year contract to avoid arbitration was "step one." Minasian added: "Hopefully there are more steps down the road. I'm never going to talk about negotiations, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'd love to have him here for a long time."

Perhaps keeping Ohtani for the long term could help the Angels turn around their recent struggles, but their star player was not pleased with the team's latest efforts on the field.