How does Mike Trout feel now after watching Shohei Ohtani reach the World Series?

In the first-place game at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Japan's Shohei Ohtani beat American Mike Trout with 2 outs and a 3-2 lead. With a full count, Ohtani uncorked one of the worst sweeps of his career and knocked out Trout to win the WBC.

This duel was an absolute foretaste of how both players' careers would develop. No single piece is more telling of how Ohtani and Trout's careers are currently shaping up. Ohtani is celebrating while Trout, metaphorically speaking, returns to the dugout once again sad and defeated.

Ohtani and Trout's careers will always be linked. Both are all-time greats, perhaps the two best players of baseball's post-steroid era. They were obviously teammates for six seasons. However, one decided to leave the angels while the other stayed. MLB fans and pundits have long called for Trout and Ohtani to force their way out of Anaheim, and their stance has been proven correct time and time again this season. Ohtani's Dodgers had the best regular season record and the superstar is headed to the World Series in his first season away from the Angels. Meanwhile, Trout played 29 games in 2024 while his Angels had their worst regular season record ever. The Angels were 35 games worse than the Dodgers in 2024. His second meniscus surgery left Trout feeling like he had disappointed fans, although his decision to stay with the Angels is the real disappointment.

Trout's loyalty to the Angels is clearly being tested. It appears there may be some disagreement between Trout and his GM and owner over how Trout's decisions on rehabilitation methods have evolved over the past few seasons. Trout is more vocal than ever in demanding that Perry Minasian and Arte Moreno sign real baseball players. Famously, Trout only played in three postseason games 10 years ago, and he just watched Ohtani hit .364/.548/.636/1,185 in the NLCS. Given potential turmoil with the Angels' top players and a decade-long playoff drought, how is Trout not incredibly affected by this development? The Angels are going nowhere as a franchise and Trout is watching his career go awry.

Fans can both celebrate and question an athlete's loyalty. Trout is clearly in that camp. To this point, the superstar has made the decision to remain steadfastly loyal to the team that drafted and developed him. This is great and more players should want to follow Trout's lead in this regard. However, blind loyalty is clearly not a good thing. A superstar should not be loyal for the sake of loyalty, because the organization must prove to the player that it is worthy of signing him for his entire career. The organization needs the superstar's talent more than the superstar needs the team. Modern superstars need to be more aware of their surroundings because MLB's growth depends on its best players making business decisions that benefit the entire league.

Trout's demise with the Los Angeles Angels benefits no one. Kudos to Shohei Ohtani for the fantastic decision to leave the company. Baseball fans just want to see Trout happy again.