Angels blogger begins on Fabulous Forum

Thanks to fine folks at the L.A. Times for letting a non-sportswriter play in their sandbox for the duration of the Angels' run through the playoffs (which is to say, through the end of the World Series). By way of introduction: I'm a former LAT assistant editorial pages editor, Angels fan by birth (Dad's been a season ticket holder since they opened the Big A in 1966), author of a non-baseball book out about John McCain, and editor in chief of Reason magazine, where we limit our baseball talk mostly to complaining about stadium subsidies, questioning whether steroid use is an urgent federal matter, and making fun of Fidel Castro.

I write about the Angels on occasion, usually in a geeky numbers-research kinda way, over at the premier spot in the "Halosphere," Halos Heaven, which I encourage anyone who wants to participate in 600-post game threads and consistently intelligent and/or funny smack-talk to check out.

OK! Enough about me, and on to the burning questions of the day, such as: Are the 2008 Angels really "lucky"? How does this construction of this squad compare to Scioscia's other playoff teams? And are there recent precedents for perennial playoff team to break in a generation of quality young players? Stay tuned for these arguments and more!

-- Matt Welch

Welch is editor of Reason magazine.