For more than a decade, the Los Angeles Angels have been the sleeping giant of the AL West.
They play in one of baseball’s largest markets. They employed Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani at the same time. They have had money to spend, stars to market, and every opportunity to become a perennial problem for the Houston Astros.
Instead, the Angels haven’t reached the postseason since 2014. They haven’t even posted a winning record since 2015.
Now, after 23 years under Arte Moreno, the franchise is changing hands. Stan Kroenke and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment have entered into an agreement to purchase a controlling interest in the Angels, a transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 pending MLB approval. The reported $4 billion valuation would make it the largest franchise sale in MLB history.
For the Astros, the important part isn’t the price tag. It’s what might happen if one of the AL West’s biggest underachievers finally gets its act together.
The Angels Have Wasted Their Advantages
Moreno bought the Angels from Disney for about $184 million in 2003, shortly after the franchise won its only World Series championship. The early years were successful: Los Angeles won six AL West titles during his tenure, including five between 2004 and 2009, and reached the ALCS twice during that six-year stretch.
Then the Angels essentially disappeared from October. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2014, despite having Trout for the entire drought and Ohtani alongside him for six seasons. At 53-85, the Angels are tied with the Athletics at the bottom of the AL West and are headed toward a 12th consecutive season without a postseason appearance.
That prolonged dysfunction has mattered to Houston.
The Astros have won seven AL West titles since 2017. Texas has emerged as a legitimate rival and won the 2023 World Series. Seattle has repeatedly challenged Houston, and the Athletics are trying to build a young core capable of becoming competitive again.
The Angels, despite all their built-in advantages, haven’t been much of a factor. That could change.
Kroenke Brings a Very Different Track Record
Kroenke isn’t entering baseball as an inexperienced sports owner. His portfolio already includes the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, and Arsenal, among others.
More importantly, several of those organizations have won at the highest level. The Rams won Super Bowl LVI, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, the Nuggets won the NBA championship in 2023, and Arsenal won the 2025-26 Premier League title.
None of that guarantees the Angels will suddenly become contenders. Baseball has its own challenges, and Kroenke will inherit an organization that needs considerably more than an expensive free agent or two.
But he also inherits unusual freedom to reshape it.
The process has already begun. The Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian in June and installed longtime Cardinals executive John Mozeliak as interim GM. Mozeliak has since overseen the draft and trade deadline and begun restructuring the front office. His contract expires in December, and the organization still plans to hire a permanent general manager.
Manager Kurt Suzuki’s contract also expires after this season. Beyond 2026, Trout and Yusei Kikuchi are the only Angels currently under guaranteed major-league contracts.
In other words, Kroenke won’t be buying someone else’s carefully constructed baseball operation. He will have an opportunity to build his own.
Houston May Be Getting Another Real Rival
That should get the Astros’ attention.
Houston’s own organization is entering a period of uncertainty after parting ways with general manager Dana Brown in August. The Astros remain atop the AL West as September begins, but the division around them is changing.
Texas has demonstrated its willingness to spend aggressively. Seattle has assembled one of baseball’s strongest pitching foundations. The Athletics are trying to build a young core capable of becoming competitive again.
And now the Angels—the franchise that somehow turned the simultaneous presence of Trout and Ohtani into zero playoff appearances—are about to get a new owner with enormous resources and a history of building championship organizations.
There is no guarantee Kroenke succeeds in Anaheim. There is no guarantee he spends aggressively, hires the right baseball executives, or transforms the Angels quickly. But that isn’t really the point.
For years, Houston could reasonably look toward Anaheim and see a wealthy division rival that rarely translated its advantages into meaningful competition. If Kroenke changes that, the AL West gets considerably more crowded. And the Astros lose one luxury they’ve enjoyed for more than a decade: being able to count on the Angels to get in their own way.
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