There was a good reason the Angels completely restructured their bullpen after last season, leaving Mike Mayers as the only pitcher on this year’s opening day roster who returned from 2020. Their bullpen shared the major league lead last season with 14 blown saves in 26 chances, led the majors in games entered with runners on base (92), and allowed 37% of inherited runners to score, contributing to a staff earned-run average of 5.09 that ranked 26th among 30 MLB teams.
General manager Perry Minasian’s main focus was to improve the back end of the bullpen and his prize acquisition was Raisel Iglesias, one of five closers with 100 saves or more since the start of the 2017 season.