Baseball is full of whiney fan bases, and some are worse than others. The New York teams come to mind, as do some of the other East Coast clubs in cities where expectations are high and patience is low.

But some fan bases have the right to be aggrieved, just based on the way the team operates. The Los Angeles Angels are one of the most egregious examples of this, and David Schoenfield of ESPN ranked the Angels fourth in this year’s rundown of the MLB Aggrieved Fan Index.

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Start with the basics. Ten consecutive losing seasons, the worst run differential in the American League, and one of the worst bullpens in team history. Finishing last in the majors with a .225 average and leading the league in strikeouts is the baseball equivalent of rubbing salt in the wound, and that doesn’t even account for the bullet items Schoenfield came up with:

• Yusei Kikuchi publicly complained about the lack of air conditioning in the team’s weight room. (At least the Angels then posted a job for an HVAC technician.)

• The recently-settled Tyler Skaggs trial.

• The ongoing Anthony Rendon saga. He didn’t play at all in 2025 and is still owed $38.5 million in the final year of his contract, so there will be some sort of buyout. Don’t expect a goodbye ceremony.

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Schoenfeld’s conclusion was that the Angels drop to fourth in his standings—behind the Minnesota Twins, New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates—happened only because this kind of chaos is now the norm in MLB.

Finally, there are the quotes about the Angels. There are dozens of howlers out there, but it’s hard to top this one from a Reddit user:

“This team has zero chemistry, a losing culture, a clueless GM, a terrible owner, way below average MLB pitching, zero grit, zero leadership.”

That’s a pretty decent summary, but thigns aren’t quite that bad right now. One of the more fascinating things about the Angels right now is that their leadership may come at a managerial level from new head man Kurt Suzuki, who will have to succeed despite the incompetence of the GM and the owner.

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It’s not likely to happen, but at least it gives the franchise a storyline of sorts to hang its hat on. The fan base may wind up just as aggrieved as ever, but the Angels could be watchable for a couple of months, provided you squint a lot and you don’t mind indulging in a healthy dose of false hope.