The Pitching Staff Is Quieter Than It's Been All Year. Kroenke Will Notice.

Stan Kroenke took over a 45-60 ballclub on Tuesday, which is not the kind of inheritance anyone celebrates. But buried inside the wreckage is one number worth flagging: the Angels have allowed 2.5 runs per game over their last 10 games, down sharply from 4.0 per game over the prior 20. That's a real change, not a rounding error, and it's happening on a staff that has been gutted by trades, injuries, and a mid-August coaching purge.

Ben Joyce has been the cleanest piece of it — he hasn't allowed a run in eight appearances this season. That's a small sample, and the closer's role above him is already spoken for, but it's the kind of quiet competence that tends to get noticed when a new ownership group starts asking questions. The offense has come along too, averaging over four runs per game in that same stretch after scratching out barely three for most of the summer.

None of this changes the standings. The Angels are 6.5 games behind the final wild card with 57 to play, and the elimination number is 34. The season is what it is. But Kroenke is walking into an organization that has, at minimum, stopped bleeding runs the way it was in June and July — and that's something a new front office can at least point to when it starts sorting through what's worth keeping.