Sports
Angels fans have clear message: 'Sell the team'
May 23, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels fans gather outside Angel Stadium before the game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers to protest the Angels team owner Arte Moreno. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Los Angeles Angels fans are making it clear that they want owner Arte Moreno to sell the team.
Buoyed by the operators of various Instagram accounts — such as Angels Boycott and Angels Central — fans have held organized protests at Angel Stadium recently. The protests are expected to culminate with Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers in a matchup that will be aired nationally on Peacock from Anaheim, Calif.
On Friday, Angels fans were asked to wear all black and be vocal. On Saturday, more than 100 fans gathered at the main entrance to the stadium before the Angels-Rangers game to protest Moreno’s ownership.
That followed a protest on Thursday among fans seated in an otherwise empty upper deck, who drew attention to their cause by following the new shirtless “tarps off” trend. Chants of “Sell the Team” and vulgar expressions directed toward Moreno have been heard throughout the stadium.
Angels fans have many issues with the team, but they boil down to performance. The Angels have not had a winning record since 2015 (85-77), and they are on their sixth manager, Kurt Suzuki, since Mike Scioscia departed after the 2018 season.
The Angels enter play Sunday with an MLB-worst 19-34 record.
The Angels Central page said this about the campaign:
“The chants will continue all season long because this is no longer just about wins and losses. It’s about accountability, leadership, and the future of the franchise. We are not rooting for wins anymore, we are rooting for change.
“For the first time in a long time, Angels fans are united behind one common goal, change in ownership. And the frustration is directed at the person that is responsible for holding this organization hostage. Arte Moreno.”
The Angels joined the American League in 1961 with entertainer Gene Autry as their owner. Upon his death in 1998, his widow, Jackie Autry, took over the team.
The Walt Disney Co. took over ownership until 2003, selling the Angels to Moreno after the team won its only World Series title in 2002.
Moreno paid $183.5 million for a franchise now valued by Forbes at $2.8 billion, placing it No. 11 among MLB teams in valuation.
In August 2022, Moreno announced he was taking the first steps toward selling the club. And with several interested suitors, a sale was considered a done deal.
But the follwing January, Moreno said the team had “unfinished business” and was off the market.
A perennial contender in the first decade of the 2000s, the Angels have made the playoffs just once since 2009, being swept in three games in 2014 by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series.
Those are the only three playoff games in the career of Mike Trout, a three-time American League MVP.
The Angels’ issues are numerous.
First, Moreno has been criticized for his failure to spend money on free agents to pair with two of the biggest stars of this generation — Trout and Shohei Ohtani, who combined to win five MVP awards in an Angels uniform. And when Moreno did spend money, it turned out to be poorly spent.
Before the 2012 season, the Angels signed 32-year-old Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240 million contract, and his numbers with the Angels didn’t come close to replicating his first 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.
After Anthony Rendon won the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals, the Angels signed him to a seven-year deal worth $245 million. He is no longer with the team — an agreement was made to make deferred payments to honor the final year of his contract — and he played in only 257 games. He produced 22 home runs and 125 RBIs. In 146 games with the Nationals in 2019, he hit 34 homers and drove in 126 runs.
Off the field, the Angels and the city of Anaheim — the owner of Angel Stadium — have been trying to reach an agreement about a stadium lease and renovations.
The team’s lease runs through 2032, and the team wants renovations to the stadium, which opened in 1966 and doesn’t include the upgrades of modern stadiums. It is the fourth-oldest venue in the majors.
Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken has informed Moreno that the team needs to shed its Los Angeles designation and become the Anaheim Angels again — the franchise held that name from 1997-2004 — before substantial talks can take place.
The California state Assembly also unanimously passed a bill called the “Home Run for Anaheim Act,” which would require the team to reinstitute the former team name as a condition for any future stadium redevelopment, lease or sale agreement. It requires approval by the state Senate.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Nationals aim to clinch road series against Braves
Washington Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin (22) is visited at the mound before being relieved in the fifth inning of the MLB National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, May 14, 2026. The Reds led 2-0 after three innings. The Reds won 15-1. The Washington Nationals have an opportunity to become the first team to clinch a road series this season against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon in the finale of the three-game set.
Washington evened the weekend series on Saturday in an atypical way for the upstart club. The Nationals, who lead baseball in scoring (286 runs) but also own the second-worst ERA in the National League (4.87), allowed just one hit in a 2-0 win over Atlanta 2-0.
As Washington looks to climb back to .500, taking two of three from the Braves will be no easy task.
Left-hander Foster Griffin (5-2, 4.02 ERA) will be eager to turn around a rough pair of starts for Washington. After yielding just one earned run across 20 innings in three previous starts, Griffin has allowed 14 earned runs in his last two outings.
Despite giving up five runs in five innings to the New York Mets on Tuesday, Griffin earned the win as the Nationals posted a 9-6 victory.
“I talked to him for a while after the start and just kept telling him how great of a job he did,” Washington manager Blake Butera said of Griffin’s last appearance. “Obviously he would’ve liked to have less runs up on the board, but he grinded through that one. The fact that he was able to get us through five and keep it where it was, that was huge.”
Griffin, a former first-round pick in 2014 by the Kansas City Royals, signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with Washington in December after spending the last three years playing in Japan. He had seven career games with the Royals and Toronto Blue Jays in 2020 and 2022.
Griffin faced Atlanta for the first time on April 21, tossing six innings of three-run, five-hit ball in an 11-4 win.
The Braves suffered just their fourth shutout of the year on Saturday, but their third in the last 10 games. Atlanta’s pitching staff, however, has remained a constant. The Braves lead the majors with a 3.06 mark.
Veteran Martin Perez (2-2, 2.85 ERA) will make his 11th appearance (seventh start) of the season for Atlanta in the series finale. Perez, 35, tossed five innings in a no-decision against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday, allowing four runs on five hits, while striking out a career-high 10 batters. The Braves won 8-4.
Perez, a starter for most of his 15-year major league career, has filled in any role the team has asked of him.
“He’s been a great pro,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I told him that he’s got a punch card from my office, because I’m always calling him in and telling him we’re changing roles with him. Going to and from the bullpen, into the rotation, sometimes late notice based on our needs. He’s done it with a smile and has been really valuable for us. What a pro.”
Perez is 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA in six career appearances (four starts) against the Nationals.
-Field Level Media
Sports
Legacy topple Team Falcons in finale of CS Asia Championship
A custom gaming keyboard backlit with red LED lights waits for tactile input before Manual took on Boone County in a Rocket League match, which was streamed on YouTube on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Legacy recorded a 3-1 victory over Team Falcons in the grand final of the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai on Sunday.
Team Falcons started fast with a 13-11 win on Nuke before Legacy took control of the best-of-five contest. Legacy notched a 13-9 triumph on Ancient, 13-5 victory on Mirage and 13-6 win on Dust II to take home the grand prize of $150,000.
Also on Sunday, MOUZ coasted to a 2-0 win over MIBR following a 13-3 victory on Overpass and 13-1 triumph on Ancient. With the victory, MOUZ finished third.
Sixteen teams began the $400,000 Counter-Strike 2 event on Wednesday.
CS Asia Championship prize pool:
1. $150,000 — Legacy
2. $70,000 — Team Falcons
3. $60,000 — MOUZ
4. $40,000 — MIBR
5-6. $20,000 — B8, The MongolZ
7-8. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, PARIVISION
9-12. $4,000 — TYLOO, M80, Lynn Vision Gaming, Team Liquid
13-16. $1,000 — BC.Game Esports, NRG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, 3DMAX
–Field Level Media
Sports
After brief stay in U.S., Tiger Woods jets back to Switzerland
Tiger Woods of Jupiter Links GC gets a hug and kiss from Vanessa Trump before match against Los Angeles Golf Club during the TGL finals at SoFi Center on March 24, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Tiger Woods’ $50 million private plane returned to Switzerland on Sunday, with the injured golfer presumably in line to resume his rehabilitation process.
Per Celebplanes.com, the Gulfstream V took off Saturday night from Stuart, Fla., and flew just under nine hours to Zurich.
The New York Post published photos on May 14 of Woods getting off of a private plane at Palm Beach International Airport, about 45 miles from his home on Jupiter Island, Fla. Woods reportedly had been in rehab in Switzerland, going there soon after being charged with misdemeanor DUI following a rollover crash close to home on March 27.
On April 1, Martin County Court (Fla.) Judge Darren Steele granted the motion to travel submitted by Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, who cited the 50-year-old golf superstar’s need for an “intensive, highly individualized and medically integrated program” away from media and public scrutiny.
Woods, 50, recently returned to the United States, presumably to be by the side of girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, 48, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Trump called Woods “her strength” as she deals with her health issue.
Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., announced her diagnosis via social media on Thursday.
“Tiger has been very supportive of Vanessa through all of this and is really just focused on being there for her,” a source told the New York Post. “He’s proud of how positive she’s stayed and how she’s handling everything so far. She’s been so strong and he truly believes she’s going to be OK. He’s just trying to support her however he can right now.”
As for Woods, he reportedly is undergoing “intense” psychological treatment at a rehabilitation center in Switzerland to help manage what has been characterized as his dependency on painkillers.
Following the Florida accident, Woods — who has won 15 majors among his 82 career victories — said he would not play in the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga. He also removed his name from consideration to become captain of the United States’ 2027 Ryder Cup team.
–Field Level Media
Nationals aim to clinch road series against Braves
Legacy topple Team Falcons in finale of CS Asia Championship
