The losses they now face don't compare to that tragedy, but they could split the team's core.

Staff ace John Lackey and third baseman Chone Figgins, the two longest-tenured players on the active roster, will be eligible for free agency after the World Series. The same goes for designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero, a force in the middle of the lineup for six years, and outfielder Bobby Abreu, who made a huge mark in his first season with Los Angeles.

The reality of the business side of baseball intruded even as the Angels had just started to feel the effect of losing the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees four games to two.

"It's something that's thought about, but you don't really know about it until the time comes," Figgins said of the possibility he might have played his last game for the Angels. "We know we want to stay together, but that's out of our control. Right now I'm just going to try to reflect on the good things."

There were plenty, for sure, in a season that began amid such despair. Adenhart's death in a car crash hours after he had pitched the best game of his career emotionally wrecked the Angels for weeks.

From a baseball standpoint, it also created a void in a starting rotation already weakened by the injury absences of Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar, who made one appearance in the season. The Angels wound up using 14 starting pitchers, a franchise record.

Yet they recovered from a 10-13 start to claim their fifth AL West crown in six years while posting the second-best record in the majors at 97-65.

"The trials and tribulations that the guys in that clubhouse went through all year is something you hope you never have to go through in your lifetime again," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It was a special group in there to keep going."

The Angels finally got past the Boston Red Sox, their playoff nemesis of recent years, by sweeping them in the division series. But they couldn't overcome their subpar play — eight errors and an average of just over three runs a game — against the Yankees in the ALCS.

Los Angeles has the makings of a strong rotation in place for next year with Joe Saunders, Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir and Santana but might have to find a replacement for Lackey, a playoff-tested veteran who might be the most coveted starter in the free agent market.

There are also lineup holes to address if Figgins, Abreu and/or Guerrero don't return.

And to reach the Series, they might have to go through the Yankees, who have several key figures signed to long-term deals.

"I know they have all those guys locked up for 20 years," center fielder Torii Hunter said, "so it's going to be a mountain to climb to get past those guys."

Enlarge By Elise Amendola, AP "We want to stay together," says Chone Figgins of the Angels, who lost to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.