{"id":501534,"date":"2026-01-01T13:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/501534\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:39:19","slug":"mlb-team-shocks-american-league-fans-with-1-billion-wasted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/501534\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB team shocks American League fans with $1 billion wasted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/mlb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB<\/a> team based in Los Angeles is known for tremendous success while the other has become a franchise its fans are frustrated to watch.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Angels haven\u2019t reached the MLB Playoffs in over a decade and fans are starting to realize why after a viral social media post revealed the amount they\u2019ve spent on star players over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/team-usa-given-boost-first-base-2026-world-baseball-classic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Team USA given boost at first base before 2026 World Baseball Classic<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dan Clark posted on Twitter recently about the Angels\u2019 over $1 billion spent on five well-known players. That includes Anthony Rendon, Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Angels waste some serious cash\u2026<\/p>\n<p>$245M Anthony Rendon<br \/>257 games of 1032 (25%)<\/p>\n<p>$125M Josh Hamilton<br \/>240 games of 810 (30%)<\/p>\n<p>$106M Justin Upton<br \/>366 games of 708 (52%)<\/p>\n<p>$426M Mike Trout<br \/>583 games of 1032 (56%) *to date<\/p>\n<p>$240M Albert Pujols<br \/>1181 games of 1518 (78%) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/niTdmkqMDe\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/niTdmkqMDe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dan Clark (@DanClarkSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanClarkSports\/status\/2006192344954200361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 31, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Trout\u2019s contract alone has paid him more than $400 million so far in his career. Meanwhile Rendon and Pujols combined for over $485 million.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Angels finished dead last in the AL West last season after finishing 18 games under .500. That marked the third-worst record in the American League behind the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n<p>While the MLB team ranks 14th in payroll, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/tax\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to Spotrac<\/a>, the Angels haven\u2019t been accustomed to winning as a result. Los Angeles currently sits at over $183 million per year, while the Los Angeles Dodgers rank number one with $342 million spent.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that fans of the Angels want to see changes made, however, given the recent history of the franchise it could be some time before a turnaround is possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories on The Big Lead <\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>NFL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/top-25-nfl-free-agent-rankings-in-2026-v\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top 25 NFL free agent rankings entering 2026 offseason<\/a><\/p>\n<p>CFB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/lsu-tigers-give-lane-kiffin-25-30-million-roster-war-chest\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LSU Tigers will give Lane Kiffin \u2018$25-30 million\u2019 roster war chest\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/jj-redicks-strong-message-after-lakers-loss-to-rockets\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JJ Redick\u2019s strong message after Lakers\u2019 loss to Rockets<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/dodgers-mookie-betts-reveals-passion-that-almost-derailed-mlb-career\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts reveals passion that almost derailed MLB career<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SPORTS MEDIA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/remembering-the-sports-personalities-who-died-in-2025-v\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Remembering the sports personalities who died in 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ENTERTAINMENT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/rare-stranger-things-trading-cards-actor-worn-relics-must-have-netflix-fans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rare \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 trading cards with actor-worn relics are must-have for Netflix fans<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One MLB team based in Los Angeles is known for tremendous success while the other has become a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,44,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,603,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-501534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-angels","13":"tag-laangels","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-angels","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesangels","18":"tag-mike-trout","19":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115820125424523390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}