If you had told any Angels fan three years ago that Garrett Richards would eventually put together a 200-inning, 3.65 ERA season in Anaheim, he or she would be beyond elated. Heading to 2014, the high hope for Richards was that he’d pitch well enough to stick in a big-league rotation for a full season. Fast forward two years, and the hope now is that he’ll “rebound” from the performance mentioned above. Expectations are weird, man.
Richards has been the Angels’ de facto ace for two seasons now, but 2016 will be his first real foray into the No.