ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA — For Mid-Shore baseball fans who follow the American League through Orioles nights and national scoreboard crawls, Tuesday’s ownership note from Anaheim remakes the AL West: Kroenke Sports & Entertainment has a definitive agreement to buy a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from the Moreno family at a reported $4 billion valuation — a record for an MLB franchise, topping the recent Padres sale.

MLB.com and a joint club-KSE release said the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary conditions and Major League Baseball approval. Arte Moreno, who bought the club in 2003, is set to end a 23-year controlling tenure but will remain a minority owner with an undisclosed share. Under his watch the Angels won six division titles (2004-05, 2007-09 and 2014); they have not posted a winning record since 2015 and sat near the bottom of the AL standings when the deal was announced, per MLB.com.

“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market. We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization,” E. Stanley Kroenke said in the official statement. Moreno, in the same release, said the family was “honored to steward the Angels for 23 years” and called KSE “the best next owner for the franchise.”

KSE already owns the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, MLS’s Colorado Rapids, the NLL’s Colorado Mammoth and Premier League club Arsenal. Kroenke-affiliated entities developed SoFi Stadium and the surrounding 300-acre Hollywood Park district in Inglewood. Angels star Mike Trout, speaking on the record, said of Kroenke: “Wherever he buys, he wins.” Asked about the ownership change, Trout said, “I’m super excited to have this change” — excited about the change in ownership, not about meeting Kroenke.

The club’s Angel Stadium lease runs through Dec. 31, 2032, with two extension options that could keep the team there through 2038, MLB.com reported. Interim general manager John Mozeliak and club president Molly Jolly said operations remain business as usual for now.