With their 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday, Sept. 7, the Los Angeles Angels are now officially the first American League team eliminated from postseason contention.
The 18 remaining games on their schedule are now rendered meaningless. Even if they were to win out, they would only be able to reach 72 wins, a game shy of the Cleveland Guardians, who currently hold the third spot in the AL Wild Card race at 73-72.
But while this marks the 12th consecutive year that October baseball won't be played in Anaheim, Halos fans finally have reason to look towards the offseason with some sense of hope. Through several of their 44 losses at Angel Stadium this season, fans in the outfield bleachers took the "tarps off" trend to another level and vigorously chanted for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team. He's done just that.
New owner Stan Kroenke took the team off Moreno's hands in a reported $4 billion purchase, putting an end to 23 years of an ownership that was widely considered among the worst in professionl sports. Kroenke, who also owns the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal FC – all of which have won championships this decade – is expected to add the Angels to his portfolio once the sale gets approved by all 30 MLB owners sometime in early 2027.
It's a good time for a reset within the franchise, too, possible pending lockout aside.
Manager Kurt Suzuki is on a one-year contract; there's a good chance he'll be gone in 2027. Former St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak was brought in as the Angels' interim general manager after Perry Minasian was fired in June and quickly began making moves towards laying a foundation for the team's long-term future by trading away seven players ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The return of prospects in those deals, headlined by shortstop Arjun Nimmala, shot the Angels organization up from 28th to 17th in MLB Pipeline's farm system rankings.
More recently, Mozeliak promoted Matt Swanson and Michael Lord to assistant GMs as part of a restructuring of the scouting department. Mozeliak has yet to decide if he'll return next year, but the moves he's making now will help whoever is in charge, regardless of whether it's him or a new hire.
Here are the three biggest questions facing the Angels this offseason:
Where will the Angels be drafting?
If this was four years ago, the Angels' future would've looked even brighter as they would've held the first overall pick in next year's MLB Draft as the team with the worst record in baseball (54-90). Since 2023, however, MLB has used a draft lottery to determine the order of the first six picks. The teams with the three worst records this season will have identical odds at No. 1 overall, meaning the Angels right now share even lottery odds at 19.25% with the Colorado Rockies (55-88) and the Athletics (57-87).
What will be the Angels free agency strategy?
Stan Kroenke has shown that he will not insert himself in day-to-day operations nearly as much as Arte Moreno did. Within each of the teams he owns, he's leaned on the expertise of the personnel he hires and lets them do their jobs. He does however, seem to be a bit more selective when it comes to payroll. He's shown to spare no expense when it comes to the Rams – where GM Les Snead has once again built a superteam in the hard-capped NFL by swinging massive trades for Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett – and Arsenal, who signed midfielder Declan Rice for a club-record $133 million transfer fee in 2023. But with the Nuggets, Kroenke's notably avoided the second apron of the NBA's luxury tax even after winning the 2023 NBA Finals.
Kroenke won't get the keys to the building until January at the earliest, and that's the best-case scenario considering a lockout going into 2027 seems likelier by the day.
Who will be running the Angels front office in 2027?
John Mozeliak has made some long-overdue changes since arriving on an interim basis in June. He has the track record from his 18 years as the top executive in St. Louis: 10 playoff appearances, two NL pennants, a World Series title in 2011 and 15 consecutive winning seasons from 2008-2022, a franchise record.
When he stepped away from the Cardinals last October, the 57-year-old told reporters he didn't envision himself running another team in the near future. But in an interview with The Athletic's Katie Woo, Mozeliak said the challenge of bringing the Angels back to prominence made him feel "really energized about going back."
His contract ends in December, and he's told reporters that the plan is still to hire a GM, though he's enjoyed living in Orange County more than he originally expected. Even if he doesn't return in an official capacity, there's still a chance he could stay on an advisor. But, there's also a chance that Korenke would want to start fresh.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Angels eliminated from playoff contention: Three biggest offseason questions
