Good morning! Nine days after the Padres sold for a record $3.9 billion, Southern California baseball changed hands again. Stan Kroenke is buying the Angels. Down the freeway, the Dodgers came home and gave up 13 runs to St. Louis, and Dave Roberts would like everyone to flush it. The Yankees evened things in Anaheim. And Mykell Mathieu asks whether the Rams just had the best offseason in the history of American sports — which, given who now also owns the baseball team down the road, is a question with a longer tail than it had on Monday. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
💰 Kroenke buys the Angels. A definitive agreement with the Moreno family, pending MLB approval — Jack Janes in Anaheim.
⚾ “Flush this one.” The Dodgers came home and lost 13-8 — Fredo Cervantes at Dodger Stadium.
🏈 The best ever? Mykell Mathieu makes the case for the Rams’ offseason — Mykell Mathieu at Rams Village.
🏈 Cousins is QB1. Derek Hegna on the Raiders’ Week 1 storylines — Derek Hegna in Las Vegas.
⚽ Five goals in Foxborough. Prisca Chilufya’s first NWSL brace led Angel City past Boston — Michelle Chavez at Gillette Stadium.
⚾ Right at home. The Ontario Tower Buzzers are headed to the postseason — Ernesto Madrigal-Rodriguez at ONT Field.
⚾ A shutout in Cincinnati. Michael King and four Machado hits ended the skid — Eric Evelhoch at Great American Ball Park.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — TUESDAY
⚾ MLB: Cardinals 13, Dodgers 8 · Yankees 7, Angels 3 · Reds 4, Padres 3
💰 ONE OWNER, TWO TEAMS, THIRTY MILES
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced Tuesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno and the Moreno family. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary conditions and approval from Major League Baseball. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,” Kroenke said in a statement. “We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.”
Moreno bought the club from The Walt Disney Company in 2003, months after the only World Series title in franchise history. Twenty-three years later he is selling to a man who already owns most of the sports real estate in this region.
“The Moreno family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years,” Moreno said, “and we believe with KSE’s experience and success they are the best next owner for the franchise.”
The scale is the story. KSE owns the Rams, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, the Colorado Rapids, the Colorado Mammoth and Arsenal. It developed SoFi Stadium and the 300-acre Hollywood Park district in Inglewood, which will host events during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Adding the Angels would give one company franchises in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and the Premier League — a list almost nobody else in sports can claim.
It also closes a loop in Orange County. The Rams and Angels shared Anaheim Stadium from 1980 through 1994, until the Rams left for St. Louis. They came back in 2016, opened SoFi in 2020, and are now about to own the team that stayed. Angel Stadium sits roughly 30 miles southeast of the building Kroenke built.
There is a smaller detail worth holding onto. On Monday, Jack Janes reported the Angels had restructured baseball operations and now employ four assistant general managers. Twenty-four hours later the team was sold. Those two facts may be unrelated. They may not be.
GO DEEPER
› The Sporting Tribune: Stan Kroenke agrees to acquire controlling interest in Angels from Arte Moreno (The Sporting Tribune)
› Jack Janes: Angels make front office changes, now have four AGMs (The Sporting Tribune)
⚾ “FLUSH THIS ONE”
The Dodgers played at Chavez Ravine for the first time since Aug. 23 and gave up 13 runs to the Cardinals. They scored eight of their own and struck out ten, which tells you it was not a quiet night, only a losing one.
Dave Roberts’s instruction afterward, per Fredo Cervantes, was to flush it — the shortest possible version of a manager’s September message. Los Angeles has now had two very different weeks in a row: swept in Atlanta, a sweep of Detroit, and now this.
The same two teams go again tonight.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Dave Roberts wants Dodgers to ‘flush this one’ after Cardinals loss (The Sporting Tribune)
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🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
Active today across Southern California — brought to you by Ike’s Sandwiches, home of the world famous Arash Markazi sandwich, which has fried chicken, purple slaw, wasabi mayo, honey mustard, and cheddar on a Dutch Crunch roll. Just ask for the 500 at any Ike’s location. Four live today — a losing team can still feed you.
🍟 McDonald’s — free 6-piece Chicken McNuggets with a $2 purchase. The Dodgers scored eight, and the trigger is six. Rewards & Deals section of the app.
🍔 Jack in the Box — free Jumbo Jack with a large drink. Ten strikeouts. Code GODODGERS26, app or in-store.
🚒 Firehouse Subs — buy one medium sub, get one free. Last day of the Monday-to-Wednesday window, unlocked by a weekend that included Phillies-Angels in ten innings and Padres-Rays in eleven. Code EXTRA, digital orders only.
🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast. Three homers cleared 420 feet Tuesday, the longest Royce Lewis at 427. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
Dark today: Panda Express, Sunright, El Portal and Con Azúcar all needed a Dodgers win. Habit Burger needed a double play and ampm needed a stolen base; the Dodgers had neither. The McDonald’s Angels deal needed a win over New York.
🏈 A FEW FOOTBALL READS
Mykell Mathieu asks the question the rest of the league has been muttering since Sunday: did the Rams just put together the greatest offseason in the history of American sports? McDuffie, Watson, Garrett and then Aaron Donald walking back through the door — it is at minimum a serious argument, and it arrives in the same week the man who owns the team bought a baseball franchise.
In Las Vegas, Derek Hegna has Kirk Cousins as QB1 and the rest of the storylines the Raiders carry into Week 1, plus a look inside a hectic 48 hours in their front office.
GO DEEPER
› Mykell Mathieu: Did the Rams just have the greatest offseason in sports history? (The Sporting Tribune)
› Derek Hegna: Kirk Cousins as QB1 and other storylines for Raiders heading into Week One (The Sporting Tribune)
› Derek Hegna: Inside a busy 48 hours for the Raiders front office (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
⚾ MLB: Padres at Reds — 9:40 a.m. — Padres TV
⚾ MLB: Yankees at Angels — Angel Stadium — 6:38 p.m. — ABTV
⚾ MLB: Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — 7:10 p.m. — SNLA
Coming up: The Rams face San Francisco in Melbourne on Sept. 10.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
⚾ Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $52
⚾ Yankees at Angels — Angel Stadium — $6
🏈 Fresno State at USC — Coliseum (Friday) — $19
🌴 TST TRIVIA
The Rams and the Angels once shared a stadium. Which one — and for how many seasons?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
The Sporting Tribune Today airs weekdays at 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET on SportsGrid, hosted by Grant Mona and John Browner and built on reporting from our staff across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawai’i. Our stories, photos and columns also run on SportsGrid’s website and app.
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Today’s episode: Stan Kroenke buys the Angels and what one owner across two leagues means for Southern California, a 13-8 night at Dodger Stadium, and the Rams’ offseason argument.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: Anaheim Stadium, from 1980 through 1994 — fifteen seasons, until the Rams left for St. Louis.
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