This is no longer a small sample size: With the first third of the season complete, the Angels have put themselves in position to challenge a Major League record for futility.
It’s not like they have the worst home record in the MLB this season. It’s that, as measured by winning percentage, they have the worst home record of any MLB team in 85 years.
The Angels are competitive on the road. Their record outside Angel Stadium: 14-14.
Their record after losing to the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday at Angel Stadium: 6-19, a winning percentage of .240. The only team with a worse percentage over a full season, according to StatMuse: the St. Louis Browns, whose home winning percentage in 1939 was .234 (18-59).
Two years later, the Browns almost moved to Los Angeles. In 1954 they moved to Baltimore and called themselves the Orioles.
The manager of those 1939 Browns: Fred Haney. In 1961, when the Angels joined MLB as an expansion team, they hired Haney as general manager.
Read more: Jo Adell’s spectacular catch cannot save Angels from being swept by Cleveland
This season’s Angels are on pace to win 19 home games. Since the 162-game schedule was adopted in 1961, no Major League team has won fewer than 22 home games in a season.
The Angels’ fate may get worse before it gets better. On Tuesday they begin a three-game home series against the New York Yankees, the team with the most wins in the American League.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
