Sports

Angels Open 2012 Amid Predictions They'll Win It All

Newport Beach's C.J. Wilson and National League MVP Albert Pujols will lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the World Series title, experts say.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will open their season tonight against the Kansas City Royals at a sold-out Angel Stadium amid predictions that the free agent signings of three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols and all-star pitcher C.J. Wilson would bring the team a World Series championship.

"I think the Angels are as good as any team in baseball right now," Dan Shulman, the play-by-play announcer for the ESPN2 telecast of tonight's game, said in a recent conference call with reporters.

"I think Albert will have a big year. The thing that nobody talks about is the rotation is as good as anybody's in baseball. Their top four guys are all terrific."

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Shulman was among 18 ESPN experts predicting that the Angels will win the World Series. The Texas Rangers were the second choice of the 50-person panel, with eight predicting they would win the World Series. Sports Illustrated also predicts the Angels will win the World Series.

Pujols, a first baseman who is the only player in major league history to hit 30 or more home runs in each of his first 11 seasons, left the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals to sign a 10-year contract worth a reported $240 million, the biggest free agent deal in Angels history.

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While Pujols can't begin to help the Angels on the field until tonight -- and Wilson can't until Monday, when he is scheduled to make his first start - - they have already helped the Angels at the ticket booth.

Read more: C.J. Wilson’s Journey from Scrawny Kid to Baseball Stardom

The Angels have sold 4,900 new full season tickets since the Dec. 8 signings, a 53 percent increase in new business versus 2011, according to figures supplied by the team. Sales of partial season ticket plans are trending at 55 percent better than at this time last year.

The team has sold the equivalent of 23,500 full season tickets and is on pace to exceed 24,000, a 12 percent increase to its base.

Right-hander Jered Weaver, the runner-up in voting for the American League Cy Young Award in 2011, will be the Angels' starting pitcher, opposing left-hander Bruce Chen.

Pregame festivities will include a flyover by a C-17 military transport aircraft, David Cook, the 2008 "American Idol" champion singing the national anthem, and Tim Salmon, Troy Percival and David Eckstein, members of the Angels 2002 World Series championship team, throwing out ceremonial first pitches.

Watch: Bill Murray Throws First Pitch At Wrigley Field, Slides Home 

While the Angels have made changes on the field, they have also made changes at the concession stands, introducing several new items.

Aramark, which handles concessions at Angel Stadium, estimates that 7,600 hot dogs, 2,600 orders of nachos, 1,800 slices of pizza, 1,600 sausage and pepper sandwiches, 1,100 soft pretzels, 700 orders of chicken tenders, 600 hamburgers, 1,500 bottles of water and 3,000 gallons of soda will be consumed at tonight's game.

—City News Service


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