Man, man, man. The Los Angeles Angels. Though I enjoy the occasional trek down to Anaheim to watch the game, the team has been in shambles for the better part of a decade. As of this writing, the team will miss the postseason for the 12th consecutive season. A literal masterclass in futility, the roster at one point had both Shohei Ohtani AND Mike Trout and had nothing to show for it. My friends that were Angels fans stopped coming to the games. The reason I was told was that as long as billboard magnate Arte Moreno owned the team, it didn’t make sense showing up. The stadium was in shambles (I suppose), the team was awful (true), and a far cry from where they stood twenty years ago, when they won the World Series in 2022. Last week, at least one of those things changed, as Arte Moreno had agreed in principle to sell the team to the dude collecting sports franchises like Thanos, Stan Kroenke:
So here’s the deal. As a Mets fan, it surprised me that there was a troubled baseball franchise where most people put the blame on one guy. And I’m not even talking about the fans. Even players weren’t the biggest fans of now-former owner Moreno. He was cheap, he was absent, he literally said winning wasn’t a priority. Nah, I’m not even making that last statement up:
“The number one thing fans want is affordability,” Moreno said, citing Angels survey results, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “They want affordability. They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark.
“Believe it or not, winning is not in their top five,” Moreno added. (h/t Yahoo Sports)
It sucks because even though I kiiiiiind of understood what he was going for, it’s like “read the room man!” Guy is in a competitive league going “As long as everybody safe, I’m gucci…” Just wild.
Arte Moreno was the first Latino Major League Baseball owner in history, and took the franchise over from Disney, who essentially (like the Mighty Ducks before them) made them real-life franchises that had accompanying movies about them. Oh wait, you don’t remember “Angels in the Outfield?” The movie starring the guy from Looper who wished really hard for the Angels to win the pennant because he thought that would bring back his deadbeat dad? No?? It had the guy from Back to the Future, the homie from Lethal Weapon and Tony Danza in it.
Maybe I’m too old for this sh*t.
Again, to bring it back to the Mets for a second. Our kind of struggles are of a different breed. Have we won championships recently? No, but we’re willing to make changes. Over the past ten years, we’ve shipped players elsewhere, had a revolving door at General Manager, and most notably, we got a brand new owner in Steve Cohen. The Angels just had Arte, pulling the strings from his knockoff ivory tower. The saddest (or funniest) part of this whole selling-the-team ordeal is that everyone is relieved. EVERYONE. Mike Trout? That guy I mentioned earlier who was at one time the biggest and best name in all of baseball? The guy who committed to be an Angels player for presumably his whole career? Even he piled on:
"Seeing the reaction from the fans and some of the guys and the whole vibe, I think it was needed for a fresh start," said Trout, who is signed through 2030. "The biggest thing is getting that feeling of getting that winning culture back and having that vibe in the clubhouse." (h/t ESPN)
Can you imagine being so bad at your job that EVERYBODY is glad you’re out that bish? This is wild. And here’s the thing, Stan Kroenke isn’t exactly a saint either. But people are like “Man, I’d rather rock with this guy!”
As much as their ballpark needs updating, the team needs updating, and the staff needs updating as well, there’s a quirky charm about heading to Anaheim for a game. There’s no superstar names (anymore) like the Dodgers, the stadium doesn’t do anything world class like San Diego, and there isn’t a loyal following of the team like San Francisco. Anaheim is just kind of there. It’s almost as if you wanted to be in “LA,” but wanted to see how a small college town did baseball, the Los Angeles Angels (and it’s basic food and rotting seats) was all that you needed. Now, looks like the sports world has had enough of that. They know that the days of affordable sports is pretty much going to be over under Stan Kroenke, but dangit, they wanted the old guy out.
Whatever I do in life, I hope I’m never that bad at my job, that people are like “bye loser,” when I OWN THE PLACE.
Sheesh.
Oh wait, you don’t remember “Angels in the Outfield?” — OF COURSE I DO. It was “Like Mike” before “Like Mike.” (ha).