LA Angels putting position player Nicky Lopez in pitching on Opening Day does not sit well with the fans – “Worst franchise in baseball”

As the team got crushed by the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Angels used position player Nicky Lopez to pitch during Opening Day.

LA Angels putting position player Nicky Lopez in pitching on Opening Day does not sit well with the fans – “Worst franchise in baseball”

Nicky Lopez (Image via Royals Review/X/@YankeeWRLD)

The Los Angeles Angels are already under fire from MLB fans. On the Opening Day, the American League West team faced off against the Chicago White Sox at the Rate Field. After getting crushed in the very first game of the season, they decided to use position player Nicky Lopez as a pitcher.

Position players pitching in baseball is usually done when an opposition team has a huge lead. In this situation, the team that is losing the game uses one of their position player to pitch and face the batters instead of their regular relief pitchers. Sometimes teams use this tactic when their relievers are hurt and their bullpen options are few.

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The Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox both did not enjoy a good time in the 2024 season. The Angels finished bottom of the AL West behind the Athletics with a 63-99 record. On the other hand, the White Sox accumulated over 120 losses and wrapped up the year with a 41-121 record.

Given that form, the Angels were expected to take home the win in this game. However, the White Sox came out firing and took an 8-0 lead through the eight innings after a three-run home run from Andrew Benintendi and a two-run home run from Lenyn Sosa in the eight inning.

With the team down 8-0, the Angels brought in Nicky Lopez to pitch instead of bringing in another reliever. While there were already two outs in the innings, the fans on social media did not seem to like this tactic from them.

This was Lopez’s fourth career pitching appearance as well. The infielder signed with the Angels recently on a one-year $850,000 deal. In the 2024 season, he played 124 games for the White Sox.

Fans slam LA Angels for using position player Nicky Lopez as pitcher in first game of the 2025 season

A few days ago, nobody would have probably thought that Nicky Lopez would be pitching as a position player in a match against the Chicago White Sox. That was the case on Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels turned towards him to record the final out of the game.

Nicky Lopez
Nicky Lopez (Image via AP)

When Lopez entered the field, the Angels had managed to work out two outs. On a day when all of their other pitchers gave up runs, Lopez turned out to be the only one to not concede a single run.

While what the team did was completely as per the MLB rules, fans did not like this. Doing this on the opening day was something that left them angry. On X, several users called them out with one fan writing, “worst franchise in baseball.”

Check out that and some other reactions from X below:

A solo home run from Logan O’Hoppe in the ninth inning prevented a shutout loss for the Angels. The second game of this series will be played on Saturday after a one-day gap on Friday.

Mike Trout survives injury scare in first game of 2025 season

The last thing the Los Angeles Angels need at the moment is another injury to Mike Trout. During the first game of the season, the 3-time AL MVP survived a major injury scare.

Mike Trout
Mike Trout (Image via Imago)

In his very first at-bat of the season, Trout got hit by the pitch from Sean Burke. In the top of the first inning, the Angels star got drilled in his hand by the third pitch while working on a 1-1 count. Luckily for him, the injury was not severe and he was able to continue playing in the game.

The 11-time MLB All-Star was limited to just 82 games last year as he suffered an injury in his left hand. In his absence, the Angels struggled offensively and almost ended up losing 100 games. An injury to Trout this early in the campaign will be a massive blow to the team’s ambition this year.