Despite the dynamic runs of Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana in the ’70s and the marvelous Angels careers of guys like Mike Witt, Chuck Finley, Mark Langston and Jim Abbott in the ’80s and ’90s, it had been 41 years since Dean Chance took home the Angels franchise’s only Cy Young award in 1964.
The Angels had quite possibly their busiest off-season before the 2004 campaign, signing four of the most highly touted free agents, including Jose Guillen and Kelvim Escobar, and top prizes, Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon.
Guerrero did not disappoint in 2004, taking home the American League MVP award. A year later, after earning a league best 21 victories against just 8 losses, Colon became the second Angel to win a Cy Young award, easily beating out Yankee closer, Mariano Rivera and Twins ace, Johan Santana.
Without the statistical dominance of Cy Young winners past – Colon was eighth in the A.L. with a 3.48 ERA, tenth in complete games, seventh in innings pitched and eighth in strikeouts – it was Colon’s consistency and ability to win that propelled him to the A.L.’s top honor for pitchers in 2005.
While a bad back and shoulder limited Colon to just 8 innings in the 2005 ALDS, and kept him out of the ALCS altogether, his 2005 regular season will go down as one of the greatest in Angels history.
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