The Los Angeles Angels were a 1961 American League expansion team, founded by Gene Autry and named for the Pacific Coast League club that had long used the Angels identity. They played first at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, then at Dodger Stadium as the “Los Angeles Angels,” and in 1966 moved to Anaheim. The franchise’s official name has shifted among California Angels, Anaheim Angels, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a reflection of Southern California geography and marketing more than of on-field identity. Early stars included Bo Belinsky’s no-hitter, Jim Fregosi, and Nolan Ryan, whose seven no-hitters included four in an Angels uniform.

For decades the Angels were talented and unlucky. The 1979, 1982, and 1986 ALCS teams, the last of which blew a 3–1 lead to Boston, defined a near-miss culture. Rod Carew finished his career in Anaheim; Reggie Jackson had a late Angels chapter; and the 1990s produced more frustration, including the 1995 collapse. Disney’s ownership in the late 1990s and early 2000s professionalized the operation and set up the breakthrough. In 2002, Mike Scioscia’s club — with Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, a young Francisco Rodríguez, and the Rally Monkey as an unlikely mascot — beat the Giants in a seven-game World Series. That remains the franchise’s only championship.

The Albert Pujols signing, Josh Hamilton, and later two-way phenomenon Shohei Ohtani made the 2010s and early 2020s a paradox: superstar gravity without October. Mike Trout, who debuted in 2011, became the best player of his generation — three MVPs, a career slash line in Cooperstown territory — while the supporting casts rarely lasted into October. Ohtani’s 2021–23 seasons in Anaheim, including a 2023 campaign of 44 homers and 10 wins as a pitcher, were historic, yet the Angels still missed the postseason in those years. He left for the Dodgers; Trout’s prime became a case study in individual greatness without a pennant.

One World Series title, a naming history as winding as the 5 freeway, and a ballpark in Anaheim that has hosted Ryan, Trout, and Ohtani give the Angels a star-soaked, championship-thin story. They are Southern California’s other club: expansion origin, a 2002 miracle, and a long search for a second parade while two of the century’s greatest players wore red.