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Melanie Marx bought Angel City season tickets before the team was a team. It had no players, no coach and no uniform. It was more a concept than a reality and Marx bought in.

“I’ve always had pride for this team.” she said. “This was the first team from the NWSL that I’ve been able to say that I’m a supporter for.”

Yet supporting Angel City, she says, has been as exhausting as it has been exciting. Once the most valuable women’s professional sports team in history, Angel City has had one winning season and made just one playoff appearance in its first four seasons.

Attendance declined more than 22%, high-profile players such as Alyssa Thompson, Christen Press, Ali Riley and Madison Hammond have either been transferred away, retired or been allowed to leave and the team hasn’t re-signed popular captain Sarah Gorden for next season. At the same time, it has gone through five coaches and three general managers/sporting directors in less than five years.

Angel City defender Gisele Thompson celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

That’s not exactly what Marx signed up for.

“I’m upset as a fan, of course, and I’m upset as a season-ticket holder,” she said. “But I’m also upset as a fan of these players and someone who’s been invested in this league of almost 10 years.”

“What keeps myself and others coming back week to week is because of the players themselves,” she added. “Because the results on the pitch haven’t always matched the ambitions of the supporters.”

During the past three months, that support has finally been rewarded. Following Sunday’s draw with first-place Gotham FC, the reigning NWSL champion, Angel City (12-8-7) heads into the league’s two-week international break riding a seven-game unbeaten streak and is in sixth place in the 16-team table, in position for another playoff berth.

The team has lost just twice in 16 games under interim coach Leif Gunnar Smerud. Its 12 victories with three games to play is already a franchise record for a single season, as are its 45 goals. After posting a substantial negative goal differential in its first four seasons, Angel City’s plus-16 mark this year in best in the league.

And in the current international break, the team had a record nine players called up to various national teams. It’s one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NWSL history, one that may have saved at least a portion of the team’s most loyal fan base.

“My renewal for next year just recently came up and I was on a bit of knife’s edge deciding whether I want to go ahead,” said Michael Jaeger, an attorney who has had multiple Angel City season tickets in section 133 since the first season. “There have been consistent problems throughout.

“I really want the team to succeed. Given the recent successes, I did go ahead and re-up for next year because I’m feeling optimistic.”

Optimistic but not necessarily confident.

“I am not feeling like ‘OK, this is what I’ve been waiting for. The team’s really turned a corner,’” Jaeger said. “That to me would be success on the field, plus a decision about Sarah Gorden, plus [a] permanent head coach who we know is at least going to have one or more seasons to have things play out.

“So I don’t think we’re there yet. I like the current trend but because not a lot has necessarily changed about the front office, I’m not ready to say ‘OK, we’re fully on the right track.’”

Angel City has only itself to blame for that lack of trust. When the team launched with a massive ownership group that included Hollywood A-listers, former U.S. women’s national team stars and sports luminaries including Serena Williams and Billie Jean King, it promised to ignite a revolution in women’s sports.

Angel City FC fans chant during a match against the San Diego Wave at BMO Stadium on May 9.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

“We’re not just building a soccer club. We want to build an organization that has impact,” said Julie Uhrman, one of its team’s three founding owners.

And while Angel City has done real, meaningful work in the community, providing millions of meals to the hungry, funneling millions of dollars into community programs and taking a courageous stand against ICE raids across Southern California, as a soccer team it hasn’t delivered on its promises.

The loyal fans blame the front office, which has waived nearly six dozens players and five managers, including interim coaches, through its revolving doors since the first season. Mark Parsons, who won six trophies as manager with the Portland Thorns, was hired 20 months ago to stabilize things but his highly touted global search for a coach ended with Alexander Straus spending just a year with the club — going 7-15-5 in parts of two seasons — while Parsons unsettled the roster by making more than 40 transactions.

“There’s just a lack of trust in the front office frankly,” said Nadia Johnson, who attended games every season but didn’t buy season tickets until this year. “We’re still doing these chaotic things, which is really frustrating as a fan.”

And the chaos may not be ending anytime soon. Despite his success, Smerud has not publicly been guaranteed anything beyond this season; officially, the team is still searching for a new manager.

Gorden, the captain and anchor of the defense, is out of contract at the end of the season as is veteran Claire Emslie. Meanwhile Sydney Leroux, 36, who has played one minute the past two seasons as she deals with mental health issues, is signed through 2027.

At the same time, Parsons has built the league’s youngest roster around players whose performances are bigger than their names. Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, 25, is third in the league with nine clean sheets and 12 wins. Brazilian Maiara Niehues, 22, already has a franchise-record nine goals while Evelyn Shores, 21, has tied the single-season record with seven assists and defender Gisele Thompson, Alyssa’s sister, leads all outfield players with 2,420 minutes.

“I am excited about how diverse our team is and really how they’ve grown,” season ticket-holder Johnson said. “It’s playoff crunch time and so it’s always exciting, especially when your team is in it. So I’m excited to see where they go.”

But after four seasons of mediocrity and worse, however, she’s learned to keep her fingers crossed.

“I’m not confident if we get a rough patch next year what decisions will be made in terms of trying to repair that,” she said. “So yeah, that’s where I’m at.”

Taylor Suarez scored in the 91st minute goal to lift Angel City (12-8-7) to a 1-1 draw against host Gotham FC at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J.

Suarez scored her third goal of her rookie season off an assist from Emily Sams.

Gotham (16-4-7) broke through first when Midge Purce found Rose Lavelle, who slipped a diagonal pass back to Jaedyn Shaw. Shaw met it with a one-touch shot past Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson for her 10th goal of the season.

Maiara Niehues scored in the 88th minute for visiting Angel City in a 1-0 win Saturday that sent the Washington Spirit a third straight loss.

Carina Lageyre found Niehues at the top of the penalty area with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Both Spirit goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson made just two saves.

Angel City improved to 12-8-6.

The Spirit fell to 14-8-4.

SEATTLE — Taylor Ward put Seattle ahead with a pinch-hit two-run single in the seventh inning, J.P Crawford followed with a two-run homer and the Mariners beat the Angels 8-4 on Saturday night.

Mariners left-hander Kade Anderson threw 3⅓ scoreless innings but left in the fourth after taking a 104-mph line drive to the left arm hit by Christian Moore. Michael Rucker came on in relief. The Mariners (75-86) said Anderson had a left forearm bruise.

Ward, who has struggled since joining the Mariners from Baltimore at the trade deadline, drove in Cole Young and Michael Arroyo with his hit off Angels lefty Mitch Farris (1-4).

Crawford hit Farris’ next pitch into the right field stands.

The Angels (62-99) tied the game with four runs in the sixth. Bryce Teodosio drove in a two-run single off reliever Jose Ferrer, Wade Meckler scored from third on a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Heineman and Jose Siri tied it on a groundout to third base that scored Teodosio.

In the ninth inning, Josh Naylor reached on a walk and stole second base, becoming the first first baseman since George Sisler in 1920-1922 to have consecutive 30-steal seasons.

Gabe Speier pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Mariners. Carlos Vargas (3-0) got the win.

Up next: Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (1-6, 4.88 ERA) will face Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (12-11, 3.81 ERA) in Sunday’s season finale.

SACRAMENTO — Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof each hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Athletics rallied past the Angels 9-7 on Tuesday night.

Cortes launched a drive to right-center off Sam Bachman (1-3) to give the A’s a 7-6 lead, and Gelof cemented the comeback from a 6-0 deficit they faced just two innings before.

Cortes came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and finished two for two with a triple and three RBIs. He also scored twice.

Hogan Harris gave up a run in the ninth but earned his 16th save by striking out pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza with two runners aboard.

Luis Medina (6-3) pitched a scoreless inning for the win as the Athletics clinched the season series with one game remaining between the bottom two teams in the AL West.

Alan Roden hit a three-run homer and drove in a career-high four runs, and Dean Kremer yielded one hit over six stellar innings in the Minnesota Twins’ 8-0 victory over the Angels on Sunday.

Josh Bell had three hits and two RBIs for the Twins (73-83), who have won three of five overall after splitting four games at Angel Stadium with two shutout victories. Brooks Lee added three hits and scored three runs.

Roden had three hits in his first major league game this month, punctuated by a shot to right in the seventh for his third career homer, his first since Aug. 6, 2025.

Kremer (3-1) shut down the Angels in the third consecutive strong start by Minnesota’s deadline acquisition. He walked three, but struck out eight for his most in a start since April.

Minnesota allowed just two singles by the Angels, with Bailey Ober pitching the final three innings to earn his first career save.

Ryan Johnson (5-9) yielded three runs on seven hits and couldn’t get out of the fifth inning despite striking out six for the AL-worst Angels (60-96) in the home finale of their 11th consecutive losing season and their 12th straight non-playoff campaign, both the longest active streaks in the majors.

The game also was likely their last at Angel Stadium during the 24-year tenure of owner Arte Moreno, who intends to sell the team to Rams owner Stan Kroenke before next season begins.

Bell and Roden singled in runs with two outs in the third, and Bell added another two-out RBI single in the fifth to chase Johnson.

Emmanuel Rodriguez got credit for a double in the sixth even though Jose Siri dropped his catchable fly ball to the warning track in center. Rodriguez beat Siri’s throw to score on a single by Ben Ross, who then stole second and scored when Zach Neto let the throw trickle into center.

Up next for the Angels: Yusei Kikuchi (1-6, 5.02 ERA) makes the 13th start of his injury-plagued season in West Sacramento against the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Angel City cruised to a 3-0 road victory over a shorthanded Utah team that received two red cards in the first half.

Defender Paige Cronin and midfielder Ana Tejada were ejected by the 24th minute. Two minutes later, Ally Sentnor converted the resulting penalty kick past goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn to put Angel City (11-8-6) ahead in Sandy, Utah.

Two minutes after coming off the bench for the second half, Taylor Suarez made it 2-0 with a one-touch finish off a pass from Gisele Thompson.

Sveindis Jonsdottir capped the scoring in the 67th minute, dispossessing Tatumn Milazzo deep in Utah territory before rolling a shot past McGlynn’s right side.

Utah fell to 13-9-3.

You’ve probably never seen Michael Araujo, but if you’ve attended an Angels game since 2013, you’ve definitely heard him.

On Sunday, Araujo will work the final game of his 14th season as the Angels’ public address announcer. During that time he has started more home games than Mike Trout and finished hundreds more than any reliever to come out of the bullpen.

Yet for most fans, his voice has been little more than background noise, an acapella Muzak that only gets noticed when Araujo makes a mistake.

And mistakes just don’t happen, said Davin Maske, the Angels’ director of entertainment and production.

“I don’t remember any,” said Maske, Araujo’s boss. “There isn’t that one major mistake since I’ve been here that I could recall.”

Araujo, who is also the stadium voice for the Galaxy, has worked Gold Cup and Copa América soccer matches, eight World Cup games and the 2003 Women’s World Cup final. But the Angels’ gig is his dream job and he passed 1,000 games as the team’s PA announcer last month.

“He loves sports,” said his wife Kathryn Casey. “He really does enjoy being there and being part of it because he’s a huge fan. It’s not just a job.”

It is a job that comes with high expectations, though. Because if the broadcasts of the late Vin Scully were the soundtrack for baseball fans in Southern California, for people of a certain age, the booming baritone of John Ramsey will forever be the template for what a PA announcer should sound like.

Ramsey, who died in 1990, was the original PA voice of the Angels, as well as the Dodgers, Kings, Lakers and L.A. Raiders. He also did the Rams and USC football with a calm, articulate and authoritative delivery that was so powerful, it had its own echo.

“Would you all please rise (rise, rise, rise) and honor America in the singing of our national anthem (anthem, anthem, anthem).”

It was like being spoken to by God, an impression aided by the fact that Ramsey, hidden in a small booth near the press box, was heard but never seen.

“That’s not me, Araujo said. “So I try not to emulate that.”

Angels public address announcer Michael Araujo overlooks the field in his booth before a game against the Minnesota Twins on September 17.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Still, like Ramsey, Araujo’s gift is his voice. And though his delivery isn’t nearly as deep and commanding as Ramsey’s, it is unique in that it has a distinct, enthusiastic lilt, one he’s been able to maintain through what will likely be the Angels’ first 100-loss season.

“I try to bring the energy,” he said.

“It’s all about riding your vibes,” Maske added. That’s why Araujo’s perch on the club level behind home plate is exposed to the crowd rather than enclosed, like the booths to his right used by the radio and TV broadcasters. The idea is to feed off the fans, not lock them out.

“Baseball is gnarly. It’s repetitive. It’s a sport that’s inherently, at times, very boring,” Maske said. “So you’ve got to find those little moments to make it entertaining.

“It’s not NFL. It’s not the NBA. It’s baseball. Mike’s good at kind of finding that balance of excitement and traditionalism.”

And the excitement, even at the end of a blowout loss, is genuine, he said.

“The Angels were my team growing up, so the Angels was my dream job,” said Araujo, a former season-ticket holder. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

“I want to get paid to watch sports and that’s it,” he continued. “So whatever I’ve got to do to be invaluable so that I stay there, that’s kind of my mission.”

It’s not a mission that pays much, however, with most PA announcers across the majors earning between $100-$500 a game to announce each hitter as he comes to plate, read commercial copy between innings and, in Araujo’s case at least, to handle the play-by-play for the cartoon races that run on the scoreboard late in the game.

“It’s fun money,” said Casey who, like Araujo, is a teacher as well as the clock operator at Galaxy games, where she works alongside her husband. “We use it for travel.”

The job is one Araujo stumbled into. Despite a rich voice and a lifelong passion for sports, pairing the two was something that just happened, not something that was planned.

A teacher at an alternative-education high school in La Puente, Araujo, 54, has worked for the Galaxy since the MLS team’s second game in 1996, filling a number of roles from glorified errand boy to assistant game-day producer. That last job required him to stand behind the PA announcer and relay silent cues, and since he knew the gig, Araujo was handed a microphone and asked to fill in a few times during absences, sick days and other emergencies.

The biggest emergency came when Victor Villalba, the Galaxy’s regular announcer, left in the middle of a season to join the Dallas Cowboys radio team. Araujo was the natural choice to finish out the year and he’s been there ever since.

“That was 2002,” he said. “So I’m in my 25th season.”

It was similar desperation that led to his job with the Angels. When David Courtney, who had been with the team for nearly two decades, died at 56 two months after the 2012 season, the Angels began asking around for a replacement and Araujo’s name was the one they heard most frequently. So he was invited to spring training the following year to audition and he beat out two others to claim the job.

On game days Araujo gets to the ballpark about 2½ hours before first pitch, pausing in the parking lot to pull on an Angels cap and jersey with his name on the back. If the team wins, he’ll wear the same jersey the next day; if not, he’ll rotate through a closet of red, white, gray and City Connect jerseys.

Araujo’s only other tools are a microphone and a laptop, on which he’s installed an interactive software program he created that tracks the lineups of both teams. He can also call up pronunciation guides for players on all 30 major league teams, though he’s found the radio broadcasters for the visiting clubs are often more helpful.

Angels public address announcer Michael Araujo has worked more than 1,000 games at Angel Stadium and has been the Galaxy’s public address announcer since 2002.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

His cramped work space, about 90 feet from the field, has enough room for two green vinyl chairs, though Araujo prefers to stand when he’s working. And unlike many people whose vocal chords are their livelihood, Araujo says he has few ritualistic habits to protect his voice.

“In my bag I have a gazillion cough drops; a couple of different kinds, some with honey,” he said. “I definitely wouldn’t do anything carbonated before a game. Makes you burp and all that kind of stuff.”

Araujo is one of three Latino PA announcers in the majors, alongside Marysol Castro, who works for the New York Mets, and Frank Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. Given that 30% of big-league players are from Latin America, the fact that just 10% of the PA announcers are Latino is something Araujo said he thinks about during Hispanic Heritage Month.

“Did I grow up in Boyle Heights or anything like that? No, I’m no poster child or miracle story or anything like that,” said Araujo, who was raised middle class in La Verne, where his father, a sheriff’s deputy, and mother, a nurse, often spoke to one another in Spanish.

“We are here in 2026 and it’s not a little more prevalent. It can be an aspiration to any kid, even one of my students, that bigger things are possible.”

For a PA announcer, it turns out, there are times when it’s important to be heard and seen.

Ally Sentnor, Ary Borges and Taylor Suarez scored in Angel City’s 3-1 victory over the Seattle Reign on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium.

In the 18th minute, Angel City midfielder Maiara Niehue’s volley attempt drew a handball on Seattle Reign midfielder Angharad James-Turner. Sentnor converted her second penalty kick in consecutive weeks to open the scoring.

Off a corner kick from defender Evelyn Shores in the 40th minute, an unmarked Borges headed it home to double the lead. Within 30 seconds of subbing on, Suarez raced past multiple defenders and placed it in the side-netting for the 3-0 lead in the 81st minute.

Defender Sofia Huerta’s long-range blast in stoppage time provided the Reign with their lone goal of the game.

Angel City (10-8-6) is unbeaten four matches unbeaten and now only trails the Reign by a point for the last spot in the playoffs. The loss ended a three-game winning streak for Seattle (11-9-4).