Go, Team !

Heavenly days at the Big A! The California Angels reign as the American League’s Western Division champions, and will go into the American League baseball playoffs against the Boston Red Sox, the Eastern champs, Tuesday night. This may be the Angels’ best chance of making it to the World Series since they began playing in Southern California a quarter-century ago.

But first the Anaheim crew must deal with the likes of Roger Clemens, the league’s star pitcher; Oil Can Boyd; Wade Boggs, the likely AL batting champ; Jim Rice, hitting well over the .300 mark, and slugger Don Baylor. The Red Sox defied tradition this year by not swooning and throwing away the title in the waning days of the season.

The sport scribes call this year’s Angels the Last Chance Gang. Nine veteran Angels, including the team’s nucleus of old-timers, are in the final year of their contracts. Reggie Jackson, for one, claims he has been told that he will not be around Anaheim Stadium next year. That would be a pity. But we’ll worry about next year later. Every one of the old pros came through at some point this season: Doug DeCinces, Brian Downing, Bobby Grich, Don Sutton, Jackson et al., along with Bob Boone’s arm all year long. Combine that with rookie all-star Wally Joyner and the maturing pitching of Mike Witt and Kirk McCaskill, and the Angles had the ability to battle back every time it seemed that the Western Division lead might slip from their grasp.

Armchair critics carped about manager Gene Mauch’s constant lineup-shuffling, but Mauch said last spring that if the Angels could win 90 games they’d win the division. The Angels, in fact, clinched the title with their 90th victory. And don’t forget the man up in the owner’s box. These fellows play for money, not sentiment. But just maybe, in the 1986 championships, they’d like to win one for Mr. Autry, too.

A tip of the halo to the ’86 Angels. And give ‘em the Devil in Fenway.