Introduction  

In the sphere of professional sports, there is no harder task than having to grind through a long season of 162 games for the chance to get into the postseason. This is the task that faces all 30 teams who compete in Major League Baseball as some owners and front offices invest a lot of money into improving their rosters and farm systems to ensure a better future for the franchises that they oversee. However, one team located in the most-populated metropolitan area in the nation is presently going through one of the worst seasons in their history as they are ensnared in a decade-long period of mediocrity due to a lack of effective leadership from the coaching staff, front office and owner.  

The present reality facing the Los Angeles Angels MLB franchise is bleak, as the team has been mired in a 12-year postseason appearance drought, with no signs of it ending anytime soon. The Angels have seen some of the game’s biggest stars play for them over the past 15 years and they only have one playoff appearance in that timeframe. 

From big free agent signings such as Albert Pujols, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon along with the arguably greatest player of his generation in Mike Trout, the “Halos” have had plenty of opportunities to shine, but have been unable to stay in contention for the postseason. 

In the current 2026 MLB regular season, the Angels have been positioned in or near last place in the American League West division for a high number of days and they are on the verge of their third consecutive last-place finish in the division standings. In fact, they are on track to finish with probably the worst record in the entire American League and maybe even in all Major League Baseball this year.  

Background of Struggles  

Governed under team owner Arturo “Arte” Moreno, who has owned the franchise since 2003, the Angels went from being one of the most well-run and successful teams in baseball under former manager Mike Scioscia to going through a revolving door of managers and coaching staffs over the past eight seasons.  

Moreno was known for signing big-name free agent batters in his first two decades of owning the team, but since signing Rendon to a seven-year contract worth $245 million and inking Trout to a 12-year extension worth $426 million, the Angels’ front office has been cash-strapped in terms of signing notable free agents.  

Now after years of frustrating results, some Halos fans have grown weary of the way that the team’s front office has managed the roster on the field. The fans are also displeased about some front office decisions such as not trading Ohtani at the trade deadline in either 2022 or 2023 and other poor transactions that have left the team with minimal prospects to build around.

Along with off-field scandals that the organization has had to endure, the Angels franchise is in a very tough position currently and their owner has not made matters any easier among the fan base.

At the beginning of this year’s edition of Spring Training, Moreno made a statement to the media reporters at the Angels’ spring training facility in Tempe, Ariz about what he thought Angels fans really care about when they come to a ballgame in Anaheim, Calif. 

Moreno was quoted by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register on the topic of fan priorities in light of an uncertain broadcast TV situation for the team, as he said “The number one thing that fans want is affordability. 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.”  

The Angels also currently find themselves mired in a tenuous stadium lease situation with their home city of Anaheim, Calif, whose mayor sent a letter to Moreno at the beginning of the 2025 season with a list of demands relating to the team’s community relationship with the city and their commitment to staying in Anaheim long-term. The venue of the team, Angel Stadium, is aging as it has reached 60 years of operating as a major sports venue, with no significant renovations made to the stadium’s exterior structure since the late 1990s.  

The one main demand made by the frustrated fans of Angels Baseball is for Arte Moreno to sell the team to an owner who can help rebuild the team and commence a third era of success for this franchise that won the 2002 World Series and has made nine other postseason appearances in their 65-year history. 

Video Streamers of Angels Content Give Their Opinions on Franchise’s Direction & Frustration Among Fan Base  

The current situation facing the Angels has angered plenty of loyal and casual fans alike. One of them is Todd Mescke, who is better known as Todd Fox on his YouTube channel Halos In The Infield. 

Fox has been running his Angels-focused social media network for five years and he describes his channel as “team-friendly”, but he stated that his podcast started “calling it down the middle” over the past few years because of inside sources within the organization saying that a lot of bad things were happening.  

Fox said that he is “extremely frustrated” about the lack of on-field success that the Angels have produced over the past several years because “we’ve had a decade, and that’s a whole generation of fans who haven’t seen any kind of winning baseball”.   

In his opinion, Fox said that the biggest moment of change over the past few years for the Angels was when they lost Shohei Ohtani in free agency to the team’s next-door neighbors in the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have won back-to-back World Series titles with Ohtani on their roster.  

“I think we were saying that as a channel for two years before he was eventually let go. We were saying that there were so many rumors from outside and inside sources that were saying the Angels could have got seven for one(in a potential Ohtani trade), they could have got four for one(in a potential Ohtani trade), four premium players”, Fox said.  

Recent reports from MLB insiders such as Ken Rosenthal affirm that the Angels were considering trading Ohtani in two consecutive trade deadlines in 2022 and 2023, where they contacted the San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays respectively about acquiring the two-way star for a massive package of top-tier prospects in return. But the front office under former general manager Perry Minasian opted not to trade Ohtani in either instance and with a farm system that has very few star prospects, the Angels only made things harder on themselves.  

Fox stated that the Angels fanbase finding out about “the teams and the players that were involved after the fact, it really hurts because that would have really replenished this bad farm system or it would have given this team a whole lot more weapons. And to lose a once-in-a-generation player like him(Ohtani) was just as frustrating as not being able to build around him.”

Another member of Fox’s Halos In The Infield podcast network is Fernando Mendez, also known as Lone Star Halo. Living in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, Mendez is a passionate fan of the Angels and he joined Fox’s streaming network in 2021 to “fill a hole in the Angels space”.  

Mendez said that his expectations as an Angels fan changed about ten years ago when the team was still a relatively competitive ballclub. “We expected them to compete… they still had the pieces to compete and they were building towards contention, Now, ten years later, as of Monday(Aug, 3), a complete rebuild”, Mendez said.  

Mendez added that he thought the Angels front office aggressively trading away some valuable players at the MLB trade deadline is a “step in the right direction” in wanting the organization to acquire younger players to build around for the future. But the biggest adjustment that he thinks that Angels fans need to make is accepting that the team is going to be bad for a couple of years while they are trying to develop key prospects in the farm system.  

In his opinion, Mendez thinks that the Angels front office is “as committed to a rebuild as they can be, it seems like everyone was available who wasn’t named Mike Trout”. Even though the front office wasn’t able to trade all of their potential roster assets, Mendez was pleased that some big-name players were moved along with some other low-key players such as catcher Logan O’Hoppe.  

“I think once he was dealt, you could kind of tell ‘Okay, hey they’re serious’. Not because Logan O’Hoppe was an incredible Angel. I liked him as a player and as a man… if someone of that stature can leave, in theory anyone else can”, Mendez said.  

Mendez then talked about the fact that this 2026 season could likely produce the first 100-loss record in Angels franchise history, but he tried to look at the positives of potential call-ups of future key players in the farm system in September as something to give the fanbase hope.  

“I believe if young pieces can take a step forward and give us Halos fans something to look forward to in 2027 and beyond, the season’s salvaged to an extent”, Mendez said.  

The“Tarps Off” Movement Gives Young Fans Chance to Voice Their Displeasure at Angels Organization

All of the misfortune suffered by the Angels, along with the poor results on the field, has sparked an “Angels Boycott” movement occurring inside the stadium and outside of it on social media. Chants of “Sell the Team” and “Arte Sucks!” are growing in number as hordes of young male fans who have barely seen any sustained success from their hometown team in their lives are taking off their shirts and waving them around like rally towels in the nosebleeds of Angel Stadium during night games there.  

Todd Fox gave his thoughts about the age of the nightly protestors at the Big A by saying the decade long playoff drought that the team is currently in “has been leading this whole Tarps Off movement because it’s not the older heads like me, it’s a lot of the youngsters that are in their teens and they live and die for this team and they rep the colors and everything and they’re just disappointed”.  

But the movement that started in May and exploded in popularity to include all night games at the stadium was curbed by ushers and security guards inside the ballpark for one particular home game. Looking to maintain a “family-friendly” atmosphere inside the venue, Angel Stadium staffers have the right to enforce a code of conduct relating to any inappropriate behavior from spectators in the stands. 

Every team in MLB is entitled to edit their own codes of conduct and enforce the rules written in them when necessary, but the line between rule-based enforcement and unnecessary infringement on the verbal expression of fans can be crossed in any situation.  

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That line might have been trampled over in Anaheim on Fri, Jul 31, when security guards and ushers were targeting a small number of fans who attempted to take off their shirts and wave them around while shouting out those protest statements against Arte Moreno. Some of the fans who refused to follow orders to stop their disruptive behavior were ejected from the venue in the latter innings of a 6-2 Angels loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.  

Some of the guidelines in the Guest Conduct section of the Angel Stadium Guest Guide include directives aimed towards maintaining good behavior and restrictions on clothing, masks and signs that can be deemed inappropriate or offensive towards the average fan.

There are also guidelines concerning derogatory language “whether such language is directed at players, umpires, Baseball personnel or other fans”. The particular game where these restrictions were enforced involved a lot of children attending the game and it was a sell-out due to the game theme being “SpongeBob SquarePants Night”.

Finally, there is also a top guideline in the Guest Code of Conduct that is a statement towards the employees working at the stadium that cities “Guests will be treated in a fair, professional, and courteous manner by all members of Angel Stadium personnel”.  

From what occurred on Fri, Jul 31, it seems like that top guideline was forgotten or ignored in the intent of cracking down on “unruly behavior” by mostly sober spectators peacefully rallying against the poor state of one of the lowest-performing teams in all of the big leagues.  

Even though the “Tarps Off” Movement can be seen by some people as obscene and wild, the loud crowds of young men at the Big A congregate in mostly empty seats in the right field nosebleeds, where security guards usually stand underneath those 530s sections watching those fans have some fun.    

At the very next night game at Angel Stadium, there were fewer fans in attendance and more space for passionate young male fans to take off their shirts and wave them around in the right field nosebleeds while shouting out “Sell the Team” in the latter innings of a 3-1 loss to the Brewers.  

A Perspective on the Angels’ Decline from an Older Fan Living in Local Orange County(CA) Community  

The Angels have been fortunate to keep a multi-generational fanbase intact despite their recent struggles. They still generate high attendance numbers for select home games on Friday and Saturday nights due to promotional giveaways and postgame firework shows.  

The team admitted over 3 million ticketholders into Angel Stadium for every season between 2003 and 2018, but a slight decline in attendance has occurred since that peak. But the Angels still rank in the top half of teams in MLB in terms of attendance as they welcome casual and lifelong fans alike into their ballpark for 81 games per year.  

Juanita Smythe is a loyal supporter of the Halos and she has been a fan of the team for more than 40 years. She attended games at the Big A when it was at its highest capacity as a dual-purpose baseball-football stadium and was satisfied when the team made a major renovation to the stadium in the late 1990s to its current structure and capacity.  

But Smythe is unhappy with the current state of the team as she stated that she “doesn’t really think about it too much anymore because it’s just frustrating.” She mentioned the loyalty of Mike Trout to the Angels franchise, but opined that having a generational superstar like him can create a drawback in having the team “work for him and get him a ring”.  

“My brain gets too frustrated about it and as a fan, there’s nothing you can do because you’re just a fan and you gripe about it. But you trudge on because you are a fan and you know there’s going to be something later”, Smythe said.   

Smythe’s comment points to the devotion of being a fan of a struggling ballclub, with plenty of teams having long playoff droughts in their franchise histories. The Angels are no exception, as they failed to make it to the postseason in the first 18 seasons of their franchise history before winning their first division title in 1979. Another 15-year drought occured in between 1986 and 2002, with the Angels breaking that prior drought with a magical run to the 2002 World Series for their first and only championship in team history.  

Smythe loves attending Angels games on a constant basis at the Big A, which despite its old age carries some charm to fans who simply want to see good baseball action. Smythe hasn’t really paid attention to structural issues within Angel Stadium such as cracked concrete or the poor state of the restrooms inside the ballpark, with her liking the ballpark the way it currently is.  

Smythe also said that the Angels should not build a new stadium in the parking lot of the current ballpark, even though she has attended ballparks that were built near the sites of former stadiums in places like Detroit, St. Louis and elsewhere around the country. 

What’s in a Name? Angels Face Legislation Passed in CA State Legislature That Could Force Them to Restore “Anaheim” as Regional Moniker

In light of all the other challenges they have endured, the Angels also face a possible reckoning on their stadium situation. For the past 21 years, they have played home games in Anaheim, Calif while having the moniker of “Los Angeles” appear in front of their name for branding purposes.  

But the Halos had to keep “Anaheim” in their name until after the 2015 season, when the Anaheim City Council decided to drop a requirement in the stadium lease deal that the Angels had to keep the city’s name in the team’s name. For 11 seasons, the official name of the ballclub was the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”. Those years were part of the early and middle years of Moreno’s ownership of the team.  

After a failed stadium sale negotiation with the city of Anaheim fell apart in May 2022 due to a corruption scandal involving former Mayor Harry Sidhu(R), the Angels are now faced with a potential decision on what city they want to have invoked in their name.  

California State Assemblyman Avelino Valencia(D), who represents District 68 in the State Assembly, proposed a bill earlier this year titled the “Home Run for Anaheim Act”. With an official designation of AB 2512, the bill proposes that any potential future sale deal of the stadium property or a new stadium lease agreement from the City of Anaheim to the Angels franchise would depend on whether the team readopts the “Anaheim” moniker into its name. 

The bill passed the State Assembly in late May and just recently passed in the State Senate on Tue, Aug 11. Assemblyman Valencia was unable to provide comment on this topic before the deadline of this story, but he was on the Anaheim City Council when he joined his fellow council members in voting to strike down the sale of the Angel Stadium property to Moreno’s investment group in May 2022..

As a City Council Member four years ago, Valencia stated that he did not “appreciate the letter that the Angels sent to our city stating that we must approve the current deal despite the current dynamics we’re all undergoing”.

The Angels’ lease of the city-owned Angel Stadium currently runs through the 2032 season, with them having two additional three-year extensions that they can use if necessary. If AB 2512 is signed into law by outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom(D), then the City of Anaheim would be granted a legislative exemption to negotiate any potential deal with the Angels to keep them in the city.

But if a private agreement is reached between Anaheim and the Angels, then the “Home Run for Anaheim Act” would be rendered null and void. A potential downside to this legislative move by Assm. Valencia is that a future owner of the Angels could potentially disagree with the terms of the bill and move the team away from Anaheim as a new ballpark would be built elsewhere in the Los Angeles metro area for the team to call home.

For the present time, the Angels remain in Anaheim playing in the stadium bearing their name, but in five or ten years’ time, things could look different in terms of who owns the team and the politicians who represent the communities of citizens in Orange County, Calif.

The Concluding Ultimatum: When Should Arte Moreno Sell the Angels and to Whom for a Multi-Billion-Dollar Price Tag?  

With all factors considered, a resolution to the problems plaguing the Angels franchise in the short-term could occur soon. With the blame being placed by the fans onto Moreno for the struggles of the team on the field and away from it, the logical conclusion would be for him to sell the team at an undisclosed date in the near future.  

A few years ago, Moreno actually considered selling the franchise as he put the Angels on the market in the second half of the 2022 season after the sale deal of Angel Stadium was halted by the Anaheim City Council. With plenty of interested suitors, Moreno could have demanded a high price for a team that still had Shohei Ohtani on its roster along with Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, who were both hobbled by injuries at the time.  

Instead, in Jan 2023, Moreno pulled the team off the market and walked away from perhaps the highest sale price for an MLB franchise in history at the time. Now after a few years of overseeing some of the worst play in the big leagues, Moreno is facing a pressure campaign to sell the team. But as he is now 80 years old, there is a possibility that Moreno will hold onto the team as owner until he passes away.  

Todd Fox thinks that there are multiple high-end candidates to potentially buy the Angels from Moreno in the future. Fox cited businessman Stan Kroenke as a prime option due to his success in winning championships with most of the teams that he owns, which include the Los Angeles Rams(NFL), Colorado Avalanche(NHL), and Colorado Rapids(MLS).  

“I think there’s going to be no shortage of people who want to buy this franchise because it’s pristine, it’s got a great hookup with the city, it’s in a great spot. It takes a real owner, a real competent owner, that wants to win”, Fox said.  

Fox and Fernando Mendez also mentioned Golden State Warriors part-owner Joe Lacob as another potential buyer of the Angels due to Lacob being a former food vendor at the stadium when he was a teenager and he lived not too far from the ballpark.  

In terms of when the Angels could be sold, a lot of that hinges on the looming lockout between the MLB league office and the Players’ Association due to a disagreement over the implementation of a salary cap-and-floor system that every team’s payroll would need to be in compliance with.  

Mendez said that he expects the entire 2027 season to be canceled due to the potential labor war and that his best guess for when the Halos could be potentially sold would be a couple of years later in 2029 or 2030. 

“I want an owner or ownership group who is a fan of the team. I believe if you are a fan of the team, that breeds competition, that breeds a passion for winning because you want your product to succeed, you want your business to flourish, but you’re also a fan and because of that you want them to succeed also”, Mendez added.  

Fox gave another opinion when he said, “I think a lot is going to come down to what happens at the CBA(Collective Bargaining Agreement). If things aren’t going to go Arte’s way and it’s going to cost more to compete, he’s probably going to sell. If he’s going to make money no matter what in the new CBA, we’re stuck with him until he hits the next phase of his life.”  

Smythe stated that she wants to see the Angels sold sooner rather than later because Moreno “hasn’t honored some of the promises he was making regarding building up the team beforehand”. But she added that the Halos are a private enterprise “and who knows, he can do whatever he wants and it’s all up to him if he wants to sell it”. 

Whether Moreno sells the team in the near future is unclear, but one thing is for sure- the Angels fan base is growing tired of seeing a mediocre-or-worse ballclub compete and they want to see positive results reflected in the record of the team, no matter who is running the team on and off the ballfield.