ANGEL STADIUM in Anaheim . It looks better from a distance (File photo).

In the news business, the “title” of a regularly occurring event is called a “standing head.”

So the topic of “What’s Wrong With the Angels?”might be similarly labeled. I mean, the Halos – who have not had a winning season since Barack Obama was president – have (as of Tuesday morning) lost 13 of their last 15 games and settled into last place not just in the American League West with a 13-23 win-loss record (winning percentage of .361), but also the worst record in all of Major League Baseball.

At the other end of what might be called the Other Side of the Tracks (ALW) in first place are The Athletics, a team so destitute that it’s homeless, playing in a minor league park in West Sacramento while the team awaits the construction of a new stadium in Lost Wages.

What’s interesting to me are two factors that join these two teams. Both have a history of playing in crumbling, outdated stadiums and both have been stinking up the standings for years. From 2022 to 2025, the A’s had losing records (the worst being 2023, with a 50-112 mark).

I realize it’s too early to predict who will be the best (or worst), but it occurs to me that a main difference between the two is the ball park. Both the Oakland Coliseum and Angel Stadium are long past their expiration dates, but the A’s have the consolation of a fresh start with a state-of-the art facility to look forward to. The Angels appear to be no closer to checking out of the Antiquated Big A than they were a decade ago.

The A’s are scheduled to move into their new home for the 2028 season at the glittery price of $2 billion.

If you were a top-notch free agent, where would you rather go to: a chronic loser in a rusty ball park, or a rising power in an air-conditioned gilt-edge palace?