Experience Will Matter

The Angels begin their march to World Series glory tomorrow evening against the Indians. Baseball has not had a repeat World Series champion since the Yankees won in '98, '99 and '00. Since then there have been six different champs. The 2002 Angels were one of those six teams and if they take the crown this October they'll have to be in discussion for who the team of the aughts is.

So, who on today's club played on the '02 championship team and how was their performance?

• Chone Figgins played in 12 games that year and served twice as a pinch-runner in the Series
• Garrett Anderson enjoyed one of the two best seasons of his career in '02 placing 4th in the MVP voting
• John Lackey rode a half-season rookie year into a 2-0 post-season record including the World Series game seven win over the Giants
• Francisco Rodriguez pitched in his first five major league games in September of '02 and then delivered an impressive post-season run for a twenty year old with twenty-eight strikeouts in 18.2 innings across eleven games
• Scot Shields produced a 197 ERA+ during the '02 campaign but saw very limited action during the post-season

All five of the above have played significant roles during the 2007 campaign. In the upcoming series this experience should make a positive difference for the Angels as they face a first-time playoff team in the Indians.