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The Los Angeles Angels are currently the worst team in MLB, literally. They are dead last in the rankings with a 17-34 record and nowhere near the Wild Card spot. With the Halos coming anywhere near the postseason for almost a decade, fans have had enough of Arte Moreno and management.

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In a recent game against the Athletics, the “Tarps Off” celebration hit Anaheim, and fans made sure they were heard. As the team lost 3-2, fans chanted, “F— you, Arte.”

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The frustration around the Angels is no longer staying inside the stadium walls. During Tuesday’s 14-6 loss to the Athletics, shirtless fans in the outfield loudly chanted “Sell the team” and “Arte s—s.”

With the ballpark half-empty, those chants echoed through television and radio broadcasts. But this frustration is not just a result of another disappointing Angels season; it is the culmination of almost every season in recent years.

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Despite having Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the roster for years, the Angels never made the playoffs during Ohtani’s time there. In fact, the franchise has missed the postseason every single year since 2014. Things only got worse as the Angels continued making questionable roster decisions.

The Angels handed massive contracts to players like Anthony Rendon, but things got so bad that they had to cut ties with Rendon after the player stopped playing baseball.

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At the same time, baseball evaluators ranked Anaheim’s farm system at the bottom almost every year. The organization also refused to capitalize when they had the chance to send Ohtani to the Tampa Bay Rays. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Angels could have gotten Junior Caminero with that trade. Instead, they held onto Ohtani and let him walk for nothing.

The payroll has dropped from $230 million to $171 million. The Angels once ranked eighth in MLB payroll, but now sit at 15th. And this is exactly why fans at the stadium have also reduced.

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Only 23,803 fans showed up to the 45,000-seat stadium for a recent game during the Athletics series.

And to top it all off, came Arte Moreno himself.

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During the offseason, he made a comment that completely changed the relationship between ownership and the fans.

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Moreno said that the team conducted a survey, and affordability and family experience were more important to fans than winning. Moreno even stated winning was not among the top-five priorities for Angels fans.

Now that Anaheim holds the worst record in baseball, fans are keeping the protests going game after game. The frustration is starting to show in almost every game at the Angels Stadium. Fans are organizing black-shirt protests before weekend games while demanding that Moreno consider selling the franchise.

For many longtime fans, the growing silence inside Angel Stadium feels louder than ever. It looks exactly like the protests John Fisher faced when Athletics fans rebelled against his payroll cuts in Oakland.

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And it looks like Arte Moreno has more problems to deal with other than the fans.

Time’s so bad that the Angels might lose “Los Angeles” from their name

We are not even halfway into the season, and the Angels are already a mess. Not only their owner, but even the team’s name is being questioned.

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California Assembly member Avelino Valencia introduced AB 2512, targeting the Angels’ naming change debate.

The bill pushes the team to restore the name Anaheim Angels, as the ballpark is in Anaheim, California. The team branding shifted in 2005 to the Los Angeles Angels, even when the operations were based in Anaheim. Fans argue that the identity confusion got worse as the regional identity was split between Anaheim and Los Angeles.

Back in the 1960s, it was the Anaheim taxpayers who funded Angel Stadium. The 2002 World Series win remains a central figure for the Anaheim Angels. It became their identity.

City once negotiated a 150-acre stadium land purchase deal with the Angels for a massive building project. But the Surplus Land Act and the Harry Sidhu scandal halted the stadium sale. And it has been quite ever since.

AB 2512 offers a Surplus Land Act exemption if the Angels restore the team’s name to Anaheim Angels. The proposal can reopen the talks for stadium redevelopment and private leasing.

Meanwhile, reports of a rat infestation at the stadium have hurt attendance even more.

During a recent Freeway Series game, a possum was spotted running behind the seats, going viral on social media.

For a team that has Mike Trout and Jo Adell, everything, except for them, seems to be making more news. The fan protests have increased against Arte Moreno’s ownership, with the team doing nothing to get better. With all this, maybe returning to the Anaheim Angels is the only fresh start this franchise can get.

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Written by

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Karthik Sri Hari KC

1,651 Articles

Karthik Sri Hari KC is a baseball writer at EssentiallySports who reports from the MLB GameDay Desk. A former national-level baseball player, Karthik brings a player’s instincts combined with a journalist’s precision to his coverage of key moments across the league. Known as a stat specialist, he ranks among EssentiallySports’ top three MLB writers, delivering in-depth analysis that goes beyond numbers to highlight team and player strategies. Karthik’s athlete-informed perspective, shaped by years on the field, has earned him a place in the EssentiallySports Journalistic Excellence Program, our internal training initiative where writers develop their reporting and storytelling skills under industry experts. In addition to his writing, Karthik has experience creating educational content during internships, enhancing his research, writing, and communication skills.

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Arunaditya Aima

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