SEATTLE — Bryce Miller took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners edged the Angels 1-0 on Thursday night to finish a three-game sweep.
Cal Raleigh coaxed a bases-loaded walk from rookie starter Walbert Ureña with two outs in the sixth to force home the only run. Seattle stayed tied with the Texas Rangers for first place in the American League West at 45-43.
Andrés Muñoz pitched a shaky ninth for his 16th save. Muñoz gave up a leadoff walk and two singles but retired Wade Meckler on a grounder with two runners aboard to end it.
Zach Neto walked to begin the inning but got picked off at first base attempting to steal second.
Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez was removed in the top of the third, two innings after being hit in the back of the helmet by a thrown ball while running the bases. He was replaced by Victor Robles, who got hit by a pitch on the right wrist in the bottom of the third and was lifted in favor of Weston Wilson in the fifth.
Miller (4-2) struck out eight and walked none in seven splendid innings. He lost his no-hit bid when Nolan Schanuel blooped a leadoff single to right-center in the seventh. Denzer Guzmán followed with a single, but Miller retired the next three batters to preserve the lead.
Eduard Bazardo struck out two in a perfect eighth.
The Angels’ lone baserunner through six innings came when Guzmán reached second on a throwing error by Mariners third baseman J.P. Crawford with two outs in the fourth.
Crawford, playing his 1,000th career game, doubled to start the bottom of the sixth for the first hit of the night. Dominic Canzone and Randy Arozarena walked to load the bases with one out before Josh Naylor struck out swinging. Raleigh fell behind 0-2 in the count but worked a nine-pitch walk that scored Crawford and chased Ureña (5-7).
Up next for the Angels: Host the Boston Red Sox for a three-game series beginning Friday night. LHP Reid Detmers (3-5, 3.88 ERA) starts the opener against LHP Jake Bennett (2-3, 3.27).
The Angels have fired general manager Perry Minasian midway through their sixth consecutive disappointing season under his leadership.
The last-place Angels appointed former Cardinals GM John Mozeliak to be their interim general manager and baseball operations consultant on Friday. Mozeliak will oversee day-to-day baseball operations while assisting the search for the next GM, team president Molly Jolly said in a news release.
“Perry has been a valued leader who worked tirelessly over the last six years to strengthen our baseball operations department,” Jolly said. “I am grateful for his dedication, insight and many contributions to our organization.”
Minasian took over the Angels’ front office in November 2020, but the long-struggling franchise has made no discernible progress during his tenure under mercurial owner Arte Moreno.
The Angels’ streaks of 10 straight losing seasons and 11 straight non-playoff seasons are both the longest in the majors, and its farm system is still considered to be among the majors’ worst, just as it was when Minasian arrived.
The biggest transaction of his tenure occurred when Shohei Ohtani left the Angels after six seasons for the Dodgers in late 2023, the Angels failing to trade Ohtani for prospects before Ohtani became a free agent.
Minasian’s flurry of moves before and after the 2023 trade deadline seemed chaotic. The Angels kept Ohtani — a decision Moreno had a big hand in — and dealt away several prospects in an attempt to push for the playoffs.
But the Angels went 8-19 that August and fell so far out of contention that they placed several players on waivers in order to bring their payroll under the luxury tax threshold.
After holding the majors’ worst record for much of the current season, the Angels are tied for last in the AL standings at 34-48 heading into their game against the Athletics on Friday night at Angel Stadium. Los Angeles lost a franchise-record 99 games in 2024, its first season after losing two-time AL MVP Ohtani.
The Angels never won more than 77 games or finished higher than third in the AL West during Minasian’s tenure.
Minasian clashed with respected manager Joe Maddon early in his tenure, eventually leading to Maddon’s firing amid an epic losing streak in the 2022 season. After Phil Nevin and Ron Washington also failed to hold the managerial job for more than two seasons, Minasian hired first-time manager Kurt Suzuki from his own front-office staff last fall, giving him a one-year deal with the acknowledgment that their fates were tied.
Ray Montgomery served as interim manager in 2025.
A reduction in payroll forced Minasian to supplement this year’s team with low-cost players — several returning from major injuries — such as pitchers Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz, Kirby Yates and Brent Suter, outfielder Josh Lowe and infielders Yoan Moncada and Adam Frazier.
Most of the moves didn’t pan out, as Romano and Pomeranz were released, and Manoah, Lowe and Moncada have been busts.
The largest free-agent deal signed by Minasian was a three-year, $63 million contract for left-hander Yusei Kikuchi before 2025. Kikuchi was an All-Star last season but has been sidelined since late April because of a shoulder injury.
Minasian also signed reliever Robert Stephenson to a three-year, $33 million deal before 2024, but the right-hander is out for this season because of another elbow injury.
Jolly and Mozeliak are scheduled to speak at a news conference on Saturday.
Minasian is a former Rangers clubhouse attendant who rose to positions in the front offices of the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays as a protege of Alex Anthopoulos.
Minasian had never interviewed for a GM job before he was chosen to replace Billy Eppler by Moreno, who has repeatedly hired GMs with little to no prior experience in the job during his two decades of ownership.
Mozeliak left the Cardinals last fall after three decades with St. Louis, including the past 18 in charge of baseball operations.
Nolan Schanuel reached third on an error and Logan O’Hoppe drove him in on a soft ground ball in the 10th inning as the Angels rallied back to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 on Wednesday.
It was the 12th come-from-behind victory for the Halos and sixth walk-off win.
Pinch-hitter Vaughn Grissom started the rally with an RBI single in the eighth, and Wade Meckler tied the game with a two-run single.
Pete Alonso gave the Orioles the lead again with a 10th-inning RBI single, but Oswald Peraza scored on Schanuel’s soft grounder to tie after Keegan Akin mishandled the toss while covering first.
With Schanuel advancing to third on the error, Logan O’Hoppe tried to check his swing on a 1-2 changeup, but made contact. Samuel Basallo attempted to tag Schanuel, but missed, and the Angels completed their improbable comeback.
Basallo’s missed tag spoiled an otherwise stellar day, as the 21-year-old collected his first multihomer game. He joined the Mets’ Francisco Alvarez as the only catcher aged 21 or younger with a multihomer game in MLB history.
Jorge Soler had a first-inning two-run homer that gave the Angels an early lead.
Chase Silseth (3-1) collected the win in relief, allowing two hits and a run in the 10th. Starter José Soriano allowed six hits, five runs, and struck out four over three innings.
Akin (0-1) took the loss and a blown save. He allowed one hit and two runs in 2/3 innings.
Up next
The Angels continue their homestand Friday against the Athletics. Angels RHP Walbert Ureña (5-5, 2.41 ERA) will start.
New Angel City FC midfielder Ally Sentnor said she believes the team can break out of its slump and win during her introduction to the fans.
“Angel City has so many tools and opportunities at their disposal and it’s right there,” Sentnor said during a season-ticket holder party Saturday. “And it’s just pushing over the edge of just little things that are gonna make this team a constant top-of-the-table contender.”
Angel City traded for Sentnor, bringing her to her third National Women’s Soccer League team. Sentnor was selected by the Utah Royals with the first pick in the 2024 draft. She was acquired by the Kansas City Current in August 2025 and helped them finish atop the table.
This season, she has started 12 league matches, earning two goals and two assists.
U.S. midfielder Ally Sentnor and Japan defender Moeka Minami go up for the ball during a friendly on April 14 in Seattle.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
“This is an important moment for our team and we are very excited to welcome Ally to Los Angeles,” Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said. “Ally is one of the world’s top young talents, has senior U.S. women’s national team experience and has built up important minutes in the NWSL.”
She arrived the same week Angel City sent midfielder Kennedy Fuller to Bay FC and fired coach Alexander Straus. The team went on a 1-6-1 slide before the World Cup break and sits in 12th place in the 16-team league.
Parsons said it was important to make the coaching change with 19 games remaining and a chance to move up the standings. Assistant Leif Gunnar Smerud was named interim coach while the team searches for Straus’ replacement.
“We’d been really clear over the last 12 months when we made the hire that this is a team heading in a direction to be able to make the playoffs,” Parsons said, noting the coach has to be able to continue to develop players and put them in position to succeed.
Sentnor hopes to add a new layer to the team, making a difference on and off the field.
“Most of the team style speaks for itself on the field, and all these girls are absolutely incredible and I’m excited to go in those relationships,” Sentnor said. “The energetic, passionate style of play is something really exciting.”
Sentnor, 22, brings experience to the Angel City roster at a relatively young age. She grew up in the national team system since age 12. She recalled traveling from Massachusetts to Colorado to attend camps and take the next steps in her career.
She has 22 appearances with the national team, recording seven goals and three assists.
The Massachusetts native hasn’t lived on the East Coast in years and has enjoyed traveling the country. She’s looking forward to the weather in California.
“It’s so fun for me to be able to try out different cities across the United States and immerse myself in different cultures,” Sentnor said.
She said her family attends many of her games, helping her feel comfortable anywhere she plays.
“Home is where the people are, so when my family travels and comes out here, it feels like home. So wherever my people are is where home is,” Sentnor said.
Reese had established position in the paint nearly four minutes into the third quarter when she was passed the ball. Harrison reached over and tackled her to the floor. Reese’s teammates immediately jumped in to separate the two players.
The takedown occurred with around 6:05 left in the third quarter, while the Dream were leading 52-42. Officials reviewed the play and Harrison was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for contact that was deemed “unnecessary and excessive” and ejected from the game.
Harrison, who was drafted in 2015, was the leading scorer for the Tempo with 17 points at the time she was tossed. Reese ended the game with 15 points and 17 rebounds in Atlanta’s 102-77 victory. It marks the ninth double-double of the season for the two-time All Star.
WNBA officials have been cracking down on physical play this season after complaints about the level of physicality last year.
Things appeared to get heated between the two former teammates, who crossed paths during Reese’s rookie season with the Chicago Sky, starting in the first half of Sunday’s game at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto. The players could be seen exchanging words throughout their match-up and, at one point during the second quarter, Harrison swatted at the ball being held by Reese after play had already been stopped.
After the game, Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said Harrison’s ejection was “unfortunate” because Harrison was “playing so well.” When asked about what she was hoping to see from her team in their next stretch of games, Brondello mentioned consistency and her players “not getting too high [or] too low.”
“I think sometimes the emotions get the best of us and takes away from how we want to play,” Brondella said.
Dream guard Allisha Gray, who led all scorers with 26 points, praised her teammate after the game.
“Angel’s a beast on the boards,” Gray said. “She does everything that we need to help us win and accomplish our goals for the game. So, I think Angel did really well tonight, keeping her composure and really battling on the boards.”
The Dream (9-4) is currently fourth in league standings, while the Tempo (7-7) sit in ninth place.
Manaka Matsukubo finished with a goal and an assist to lead the North Carolina Courage to a 2-1 win over Angel City at BMO Stadium on Sunday.
Matsukubo slipped a ball through to Evelyn Ijeh, who calmly finished to give the Courage a 1-0 lead in the 48th minute. With the goal, Ijeh has landed on the scoresheet in three straight matches.
Three minutes later, Evelyn Shores’ pinpoint cross into the box found the head of Maiara Niehues for the equalizer.
North Carolina retook the lead for good in the 79th with Riley Jackson’s perfectly weighted pass to Matsukubo, who scored her fifth goal of the season.
DETROIT — Spencer Torkelson homered, doubled twice and drove in three runs, and five Detroit pitchers combined for a two-hitter as the Tigers snapped a season-worst seven-game home skid with a 4-0 win over the Angels on Wednesday night.
Despite winning two of their last three games, the struggling Tigers have lost nine of their last 11, 12 of 15 and 17 of their last 21. Detroit has lost six consecutive series for its longest such drought since 2021 and dropped eight of its last nine.
Drew Anderson (2-1) relieved Casey Mize to start the fifth and pitched three perfect innings with three strikeouts. Mize had six strikeouts, gave up two hits and walked one in four scoreless innings before leaving due to an undisclosed injury.
Kyle Finnegan pitched a 1-2-3 eighth before Kenley Jansen threw two-thirds of an inning before leaving the game with a trainer and Brenan Hanifee recorded the final out.
Colt Keith, Kevin McGonigle and Dillon Dingler each had two hits for the Tigers.
José Soriano (6-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings for the Angels, who had their season-best four-game winning streak halted.
Jorge Soler and Donovan Walton accounted for the Angels hits with singles.
Keith, McGonigle and Dingler hit consecutive singles to leadoff the first inning. Dingler’s hit drove in Keith, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Torkelson hit a solo homer to lead off the second.
Vaughn Grissom, who hit his first career grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs in LA’s 10-6 win Tuesday in the series opener, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout and walk.
Maggie Graham scored in stoppage time to lift host Houston past Angel City for the Dash’s first victory in 51 days.
Graham fired a shot from just outside the box after a series of one-touch passes up the middle of the field. Houston (4-5-2) ended a six-game winless streak.
Kat Rader put Houston on the board in the 17th minute. Angel City (4-5-1) tied it nine minutes later on Maiara Carolina Niehues’ penalty kick.
Houston was without goalkeeper Jane Campbell after she sustained a head injury Wednesday against San Diego. In her place, Caroline DeLisle made her first career NWSL start.
Losses by 6-0. 15-2. 10-1. How do you want to spin the Angels now, GM Perry Minasian? Are things still grand in Arteville?
Humiliations galore!
Jim Fredrick Manhattan Beach
Really? The Angels cannot hit, cannot pitch and certainly cannot field. Their hitting coach, pitching coach and manager Kurt Suzuki‘s terrible management are much higher on the list of what’s wrong with this miserable team this year. So sad.
Michael Reuben Anaheim Hills
The recent emergence of shirt-waving fans at Angel Stadium urging ownership to “sell the team” is an opportunity for reflection. With the long ago departure of the controversial former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, is Arte Moreno now truly the worst owner in sports? Sterling was truly detestable in his time, but at least he fielded a highly competitive and exciting Lob City squad led by legendary coach Doc Rivers. For the 2026 Angels, the dog days have already begun — before Memorial Day weekend.
Rob Fleishman Placentia
Going into Memorial Day weekend, the Dodgers are in first place and the Angels are in last place. Plus the Angels’ shirtless fans in the stands are screaming at owner Arte Moreno to “Sell The Team!” The more things change, the more they stay the same. Ho hum.
Adam Frazier singled, leading off the ninth inning for the first hit against Athletics starter J.T. Ginn, and Zach Neto followed with a two-run homer that gave the Angels a 2-1 victory Monday night.
Neto drove a 2-0 sinker 413 feet to center field, stunning Ginn and the A’s while ending a six-game losing streak for the Angels. It was their third walk-off win this season.
Ginn (2-2) struck out 10 and issued one walk on 105 pitches. He also hit Neto with a pitch in the sixth.
The right-hander was perfect through 4 1/3 innings and came within three outs of the first major league no-hitter since Shota Imanaga combined with two Chicago Cubs relievers for a 12-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 4, 2024.
Lawrence Butler had a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the ninth that drove in Zack Gelof for the first run of the game, but the Angels rallied to win despite getting outhit 7-2.
Walbert Ureña tossed six scoreless innings for the Angels, giving up four hits and striking out four. Ryan Zeferjahn gave up the first run of the game and walked the bases loaded, but Chase Silseth (1-0) worked out of the jam by getting slugger Nick Kurtz to ground into a game-ending double play.
Kurtz’s fifth-inning double extended his on-base streak to 41 games, tying Eddie Joost (1949) for the sixth-longest in A’s history. Kurtz is also tied with Kyle Schwarber last year for the longest in the big leagues across the last four seasons.
Angelina Anderson made one save for her second shutout and became the first goalkeeper to hold Portland scoreless this season as visiting Angel City played the Thorns to a 0-0 draw on Sunday.
Mackenzie Arnold made three saves for Portland (6-2-2) in her fourth shutout of the year. Angel City (3-4-1) snapped a four-game skid.
Late in second-half stoppage time, Thorns midfielder Jessie Fleming sent a shot off the post.
Portland had two players leave the game with injuries: Isabella Obaze in the 67th minute and M.A. Vignola in the 74th.
The leading scorers for each team missed the game: Portland’s Olivia Moultrie (calf) and Angel City’s Sveindis Jonsdottir (foot).
CLEVELAND — Angel Martinez homered and Cleveland’s pitchers struck out 13 as the Guardians kept up their home mastery of the Angels with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.
Martinez, Patrick Bailey and Bryan Rocchio drove in runs for Cleveland, which improved to 29-4 against the Angels at Progressive Field since 2015. The Guardians have won the first two games in the series despite being outhit twice.
Vaughn Grissom homered for the Angels, who dropped to 8-17 on the road.
Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi held LA scoreless for four innings while striking out a season-high seven. Hunter Gaddis (1-1) worked 1 1/3 innings and Cade Smith got his second four-out save this season and 12th im 14 chances overall.
Martinez put the Guardians up in the third against Walbert Ureña (1-4) with his sixth homer, a shot into the right-field seats.
He nearly homered again in the fifth, but was robbed by right fielder Jo Adell, who made a leaping catch at the wall. However, the shot advanced Daniel Schneeman to third and he scored on Bailey’s groundout.
The Angels pulled to 2-1 in the sixth on pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza’s triple and a sacrifice fly from Adell.
Los Angeles threatened in the seventh against Eric Sabrowski, who yielded two walks but struck out the side.
Rocchio’s sac fly in the seventh made it 3-1 before Grissom’s second homer pulled the Angels within one in the eighth.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was back in the dugout after missing two games with an upper respiratory issue.
The Guardians announced the death of longtime ballpark public address announcer Bob Tayek. He had been the in-game voice at Progressive Field since 1999 before stepping away this season for health reasons.
UP NEXT
Angels LHP Reid Detmers (1-3, 4.33 ERA) starts the series finale against LHP Parker Messick (4-1, 2.30), who faces the Angels for the first time.
Ian Bowen is manager of the “66 to Cali” shop/kiosk on the Santa Monica Pier. Many travelers go to the kiosk for the Route 66 “passports” and certificates of completion.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Beyond the merry-go-round and before the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Ian Bowen does business in a snug kiosk overstuffed with souvenirs, guidebooks and replica highway signs. The whole structure measures about 77 square feet. But the idea behind it sprawls for miles and keeps Bowen talking for hours on end: Route 66.
The 66 to Cali kiosk is owned by Dan Rice, who started the business in 2009 after years of travels on the Mother Road. But Bowen, 35, has been managing it for 10 years, making sales, offering advice and hearing travelers’ tales, which almost always come with surprises. He calls himself “a bona fide nerd about Route 66.”
“It took me six years to do the whole road and finish my last stretch in Arcadia, Oklahoma,” Bowen said between customers one recent night. Rather than cover more than 2,400 miles in a single trip, he has done what many American “roadies” do: biting off one chunk at a time. Before you know it, he said, “you become part of the community.”
That became obvious as Bowen flipped through the photo albums he keeps in the kiosk. There’s Harley Russell, ribald proprietor and performer at the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla. There’s Fran Houser, the late, widely beloved proprietor of the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas. And there’s Bowen getting a haircut from Angel Delgadillo, the Seligman, Ariz., barber, now 99, who kicked off a resurgence of interest in Route 66 in 1987 with a call for historical recognition.
This is not the career Bowen planned for; he studied to be an industrial designer. But now that he’s in the business of celebrating Route 66, he sees it, and other highways like it, as a launching pad for independent businesses, a lifeline for small towns and an antidote to the isolation of contemporary society.
“The old roads aren’t just about nostalgia,” Bowen says on his website. “They’re about creativity, honest work, investing in ourselves and our communities, and the notion that effort is rewarded.”
For those considering a Route 66 trip, Bowen has advice of all kinds.
Want an old-school meal along the route in Santa Monica? Bowen will point you toward Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery, which opened in 1925.
A lunch spot near Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande? Cross-Eyed Cow Pizza, said Bowen, is just down the road.
The backstory on Bobby Troup’s song “Route 66?” Bowen can tell you that Nat King Cole recorded it in early 1946 in a studio at 7000 Santa Monica Blvd. And that address, now occupied by the Jeffrey Deitch art gallery, is actually on Route 66.
Whatever your itinerary, Bowen urges a loose schedule, leaving plenty of room for discoveries and unplanned conversations. Otherwise, “it’s so easy to use up all your time and end up running behind,” he said.
One recent Friday, Leonidas Georgiou, 36, stepped up to the kiosk, brimming with enthusiasm.
Georgiou, who lives in Athens, only learned about Route 66 last year “from an influencer on Greek TikTok.” But once he heard about it, he acted fast. Georgiou plotted a U.S. trip, recruited his mom to ride shotgun and picked up a rented Mazda SUV in Chicago. They made the drive in 23 days, with detours to Las Vegas and Monument Valley and a stop at the Walter White house (from “Breaking Bad”) in Albuquerque.
The varying weather and landscape, Georgiou said, made it feel like a four-season trip. Several times, in cities where hotels seemed too pricey or too sketchy, he and his mom slept in their SUV. Before Bowen could speak up, Georgiou added that he’s a police officer in Athens, and that he chose their spots carefully. Georgiou’s mother, who didn’t speak much English, nodded in affirmation.
“Instead of spending $40 each and getting bedbugs, it’s better to sleep in the car,” Georgiou said. And in the larger picture, he said, it was important to give the trip all the time it needed.
“This is a lifetime journey,” Georgiou said.
Bowen nodded and smiled. Another 66 traveler, another set of surprises.
For Sarah Gorden, Mother’s Day is special because it’s not just a celebration of motherhood. For her, it’s also a celebration of perseverance, grit and survival.
Especially survival.
Gorden became pregnant during her junior year of college and for most of the next 12 years, she tried to balance her life as a professional soccer player with her responsibilities as a single mother. It wasn’t easy.
“I honestly look back and I have no idea how we got through that,” said Gorden, who made $8,000 as an NWSL rookie with the Chicago Red Stars in 2016, less than the city’s minimum wage. “We’re making no money. We were definitely using government assistance and government aid. And then the help of family and friends.
“I’m impressed and proud of the part of me that got through that. But it was no way to live.”
As the memories come flooding back, so do the tears.
Angel City midfielder Ariadina Alves Borges walks off the pitch with her son, Luca, at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s so difficult to explain,” said Gorden, now 33 and the captain at Angel City, as she dabbed at the tears with a tissue. “Not having enough money, not having enough time, wondering if I’m being selfish, wondering if I’m making the right decision. Ultimately it came down to: I didn’t feel like I had another [choice].”
A decade later, the NWSL minimum wage is $50,500 and the league’s collective bargaining agreement guarantees mothers job protection, full salary and benefits for the duration of a pregnancy-related absence, stipends for child care and subsidized arrangements for women traveling with children up to age 14.
Angel City, founded by three mothers, has gone beyond what the league has mandated by supporting mothers with perks that include a well-stocked nursery at the team’s training facility on the campus of Cal Lutheran University.
“From the beginning, we always strive to support the whole player. Physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically,” said Julie Uhrman, one of Angel City’s founders and now a principal adviser to the team. “And then to support them if they came in as parents or became parents. That’s not just players. Staff too.”
Uhrman, who raised two children while building a successful career as a media and entertainment executive, speaks from experience.
“They can do both and they can excel at both,” she said of her players. “And we’re going to provide the support and the environment for them to do that.”
On its active roster of 25 players, Angel City has four mothers — the most in the NWSL. The work that went into the infrastructure now in place for them originated with Sarah Smith, the team’s former director of medical and performance.
Smith, who left the club in January and now advises elite athletes — primarily skiers — in Utah, said the support she got from Uhrman and others during her own pregnancy two and a half years ago inspired and informed her work with Angel City.
“Having the leadership of the club and the female leaders in the club, and then wanting to be able to support all of the players through their different journeys, through motherhood, I was really glad to be part of that,” she said. “But it really started with the fact that I had just gone through it, and I was able to share those experiences.”
Angel City forward Sydney Leroux’s 9-year-old son, Cassius, waits for his mom to leave a team huddle at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The first player she guided through that journey was Scottish forward Claire Emslie, who gave birth to a son in December.
“I’ll be honest. Having seen how much she wanted to do for moms in the game made me excited to become a mom,” Emslie said. “We weren’t even thinking about having a kid. But knowing what she wanted to do if there was a pregnant player made me want to have a kid because I knew that this is the best place I could possibly be.”
Emslie, 32, was cleared to suit up for Angel City’s game with San Diego on Saturday — the day before Mother’s Day — after missing the past 12 months on maternity leave. But she continued to train until just before giving birth and that, combined with the year off from the weekly pounding of professional soccer and the physiological changes her body went through during pregnancy, have made her better, she says.
“I feel better. I’m different,” she said. “I got a lot stronger and that’s something you can’t build while you’re in competition. My speed is back. I think I’m actually faster. And there’s also sort of an effect where you’ve got more red blood cells in your system now. So they say your cardio is actually better.”
The prime years for a women’s soccer player — between the ages of 25 and 29 — overlap with their prime reproductive years. Until recently, however, women had to make a choice between a family and a career. Now many are choosing to do both.
Sophia Wilson, a former NWSL scoring champion and MVP, and Mallory Swanson, her teammate on the U.S. Women’s National Team, both missed play in 2025 to give birth. They are among the 28 mothers in the league, and more are coming with the most recent NWSL availability report showing six teams missing players going on maternity leave.
Angel City player Claire Emslie, who is pregnant, tours a nursery the team built for players.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
Emslie’s own experiences tell her those numbers will continue to grow.
“I got to a point where I need[ed] to start thinking about life after football. And if I want to have a family, because of the biological clock, I need to start trying soon,” Emslie said. “It’s now kind of a normal thing to have a baby and come back.”
“Now I wish I’d done it younger,” she added. “Having a baby and continuing to play, they’re on the journey with you. So to have, say, five, six years professional football with a family, that’s amazing.”
Smith believes the willingness of star players such as Wilson and Swanson — and before them, Alex Morgan and Manchester United’s Hannah Blundell — has brought important focus to the issue of motherhood in soccer.
“That is where the game is going. I think you probably can see it across the league, the number of mothers,” Smith said. “And that’s a variety of circumstances. It may be mothers whose partners have carried children. It may be also players that are thinking about having children later and want to freeze their eggs. What I wanted to make sure is that we, we supported all of those different circumstances.”
That included designing and stocking the nursery at the training facility Angel City inherited from the NFL’s Rams in the fall of 2024.
“We put stuff in there for Caiden, for Sarah’s son, because it wasn’t just for Claire,” Smith said. “We wanted to make sure that all of the players and their partners felt good and comfortable. You just want to take a little bit of stress off of the players.”
Angel City captain Sarah Gorden with her oldest son, Caiden, during a photo shoot.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
When the club inherited the nine-acre practice facility in 2024 from the Rams, Angel City designated the largest of the offices for the nursery. The office belonged to head coach Sean McVay, and now it features walls painted pink and light blue and a crib, a changing table and a menagerie of stuffed animals.
“We want players to come to Angel City because we are the absolute best place for you to grow as an athlete, as a human,” Uhrman said. “And, you know, thinking about the fact that they might want to become mothers at some time or they’re coming in as mothers is really important.”
Gorden remembers a time not so long ago when that wasn’t the case. Early in her career in Chicago, she said she had to bring her son to a team meeting and was punished by being benched. Another time she couldn’t find child care on the day of a game — a Mother’s Day game.
“I just remember bawling all morning and just feeling so stressed,” she said.
Gorden has a fiance who is helping with parenting and her son Caiden, now in middle school, has grown into a sweet, empathetic boy.
“So yeah,” Gorden said, smiling through the tears, “a lot of progress. The league gets it now.”
Dudinha had a goal and an assist to lead the San Diego Wave to a 2-1 victory over rival Angel City on Saturday at BMO Stadium.
Dudinha beat multiple Angel City defenders before firing a shot that was deflected off defender Sarah Gorden for the opening goal in the 49th minute.
Angel City’s Emily Sams scored in the 54th minute to even the score.
San Diego (6-0-3) took the lead for good when Dudinha’s cross found the head of rookie defender Mimi Van Zanten in the 81st minute. Dudinha’s fourth assist tied her for the league lead with Portland’s Olivia Moultrie.
Angel City (3-0-4) started the 2026 season with three straight wins but it has lost its last four games.
Former Angel City head coach and current Wave assistant Becki Tweed led the club with Jonas Eidevall suspended because of a red card in last week’s 1-0 home loss to Bay FC.
TORONTO — Brandon Valenzuela hit a three-run home run, Ernie Clement had a solo homer among his career-high tying five hits and the Toronto Blue Jays used a seven-run fifth inning to rout the Angels 14-1 on Saturday.
Mason Fluharty (2-0) worked one inning for the win as Toronto set season-highs in runs and hits (20).
Clement had infield singles in the second and fourth, then drove in a run with a hard single off the glove of third baseman Yoán Moncada in the fifth. He homered off Mitch Farris to begin the seventh, his second of the season, then singled in the ninth.
Valenzuela went four for five, with four RBIs in his first career four-hit game, coming within a triple of the cycle. He homered on the first pitch he saw from Farris in the fifth.
Mike Trout went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts before being replaced defensively by Bryce Teodosio, ending a 23-game run of reaching base in Toronto that began in May 2015.
Adam Frazier drove in the Angels’ only run with a pinch-hit single in the top of the eighth, then stayed in to pitch the bottom half. Frazier gave up four runs and five hits including a solo homer by Jesús Sánchez.
Jack Kochanowicz (2-2) allowed nine hits and seven runs, six earned, in four-plus innings. He faced six batters in the fifth but didn’t record an out. The Angels have lost 15 of their last 19 games.
Toronto’s Addison Barger walked twice in his return after missing 29 games because of a sprained left ankle. The Blue Jays optioned Yohendrick Piñango to triple-A Buffalo.
In the second, Barger caught Vaughn Grissom’s fly ball and threw home at 101.2 miles per hour to retire Jorge Soler for an inning-ending double play. It was the fastest throw on an outfield assist by any Blue Jays player since 2015, and the fastest in the majors this season.
Up next: Angels RHP José Soriano (5-2, 1.74 ERA) is scheduled to face Blue Jays LHP Eric Lauer (1-4, 6.03) on Sunday.
TORONTO — Dylan Cease struck out 10, reaching double digits for the third time in eight starts this season, and the Toronto Blue Jays stopped a four-game losing streak with a 2-0 win Friday night that sent the Angels to their 14th loss in 18 games.
Angels pitcher Alek Manoah returned from Tommy John surgery that had sidelined him since May 29, 2024, and faced his former team for the first time. The 28-year-old right-hander struck out one in a perfect eighth inning, reaching 93.8 mph with his fastball while throwing seven of 11 pitches for strike.
Cease (3-1) gave up five hits and walked none over seven innings in his 28th double-digit strikeout game.
Toronto (17-21) scored twice in the third on Kazuma Okamoto’s RBI single and Ernie Clement’s sacrifice fly off Reid Detmers (1-2), who gave up two hits and a career-high six walks in 3⅔ innings. The Angels dropped to 15-24.
Louis Varland earned his fifth save with a perfect ninth.
Up next: Angels RHP Jack Kochanowicz (2-1, 3.05) and Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage (1-1, 0.96) start Saturday.
Murakami’s two-run blast in the fourth inning kept the Japanese rookie tied with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the major league lead in home runs. Murakami also hit his first double of the season in the sixth, singled and scored in the eighth, finishing three for four with two RBIs and three runs scored.
Davis Martin gave up five hits in seven shutout innings, with 10 strikeouts and no walks. He improved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.64. The right-hander escaped his only jam in the seventh, getting Josh Lowe to fly to deep center with runners on first and third.
Andrew Benintendi added four hits — all singles — and an RBI for the White Sox, who have won six of their last seven games.
Nolan Schanuel and Travis d’Arnaud had two hits apiece for the Angels, who have lost 13 of 15 and have the worst record in the majors at 13-23.
Angels starter José Soriano looked nothing like the ace who went 5-1 with an 0.84 ERA in his first seven starts and became the first Angel to win AL pitcher-of-the-month honors since Matt Shoemaker in August 2014.
Soriano, slowed by neck stiffness in his previous start, gave up a season-high five runs and eight hits in four innings, striking out five, walking three and needing 88 pitches to record 12 outs. The right-hander looked out of whack mechanically in the first, throwing nine of his first 11 pitches for balls and walking two. Run-scoring singles by Chase Meidroth and Benintendi gave Chicago a 2-0 lead.
Soriano escaped two-on, two-out jams in the second and third innings before being tagged for three runs in the fourth. Murakami followed Sam Antonacci’s single by clubbing an up-and-away 98-mph fastball an estimated 429 feet to center for a two-run homer. Vargas followed with a solo shot to right-center to make it 5-0.
Up next: RHP Erick Fedde (0-3, 3.24 ERA) will start for the White Sox on Tuesday night. LHP Sam Aldegheri (1-0, 5.40 ERA) is expected to start for the Angels.
Captain Paige Cronin delivered a pinpoint cross onto Cloé Lacasse’s head for the game’s only goal in the 32nd minute, giving Utah (4-2-1) a win over Angel City at BMO Stadium. It was the Royals’ fourth straight victory.
In first half stoppage time, Maiara Niehues received a direct red card for violent conduct towards Lacasse. It was the first red card in club history for Angel City FC, who played down a player the entirety of the second half.
Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn started her first match of the 2026 season and earned the clean sheet with four saves.
After starting the season with three consecutive wins, Angel City FC (3-3-0) have now lost three straight.
Sophia Wilson scored in stoppage time for her first goal of the season and the Portland Thorns defeated Angel City 2-1 on Sunday.
After a scoreless first half at BMO Stadium, Pietra Tordin’s header opened up the scoring for the Thorns (4-1-1) in the 76th minute. In her professional soccer debut, rookie defender Carolyn Calzada provided the assist.
Wilson doubled the lead in stoppage time with a left-footed blast into the side netting. It was her first goal of the season after taking all of last year off for the birth of her daughter. Her last goal for the Thorns came on Nov. 1, 2024.
Second-half substitute, forward Prisca Chilufya trimmed the lead in half in the final minute of stoppage time for Angel City.
Japan International Jun Endo made her return from injury as a substitute in the 62nd minute for Angel City (3-2-0).
Angel City Football Club announced on Thursday the expansion of its “Immigrant City Football Club” campaign, unveiling a limited-edition apparel collection featuring the slogan “Los Angeles is for Everyone” written in 13 languages representing the city’s diverse communities.
The T-shirt and cap, available in the club’s colors, feature languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Armenian, Farsi, Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Yoruba, and Zapotec — the latter representing one of the city’s largest indigenous migrant communities, originating from Oaxaca, Mexico.
“Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and that diversity is our strength,” said Chris Fajardo, Angel City FC’s vice president of community relations, in a statement. “This campaign is more than a t-shirt. It’s about showing up for our community, celebrating our differences, and making it clear that everyone belongs here.”
The back of the jersey, written in 13 languages, including Zapotec.
(Angel City)
The products are available on the Angel City online store and will be available at the club’s store at BMO Stadium beginning May 2, during the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month commemorative match against the Utah Royals.
Proceeds from the sale of the merchandise will be donated to the International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA), a nonprofit organization that provides immigration legal assistance, refugee support and essential services for immigrant integration in the city.
The initiative expands on the original campaign launched last year, when the club distributed the first T-shirt in solidarity with Los Angeles’ immigrant communities facing uncertainty in the city due to immigration raids. During the raids, many Los Angeles teams, including the Dodgers and the Galaxy, were criticized for their silence, despite having a large Latino fan base.
Last year, 10,000 T-shirts were printed. They were worn by players as they arrived at the stadium, while Angel City coach Alexander Straus and his coaching staff also wore them on the bench, and one of the team’s investors, singer Becky G, spoke to fans in the stadium in support of immigrants before the game.
Xander Bogaerts and Bryce Johnson delivered two-out RBIs as the San Diego Padres defeated the Angels 2-1 on Sunday.
Bogaerts broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning, and Johnson added a two-out RBI single in the seventh as San Diego took two of three games in the series. Johnson finished with two of San Diego’s five hits for his multihit game of the season.
Michael King (3-1) gave up one hit over five scoreless innings, striking out six and walking four while working through traffic. He combined with Ron Marinaccio, Kyle Hart, Bradgley Rodriguez and Mason Miller to hold Los Angeles to two hits.
Miller struck out two in a perfect ninth for his eighth save. He is one inning shy of the longest scoreless streak in Padres history, set by Cla Meredith with 33 2/3 innings in 2006.
The Angels mounted a late threat but couldn’t tie it. Oswald Peraza doubled in the seventh and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Neto. But the Angels went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and struck out 11 times.
Walbert Ureña (0-2) made his first career start for the Angels, striking out eight and giving up two runs over six-plus innings. He became the fourth pitcher in franchise history to record at least eight strikeouts in his debut.
