The Los Angeles Angels ended a 106-game streak Monday night, winning a game from behind in the ninth inning for the first time in that stretch, with a 3-2 walk-off victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The case for treating it as a sign of life runs directly into the team's 40-61 record and a right-field section that has spent the season waving shirts at ownership as much as at opposing pitchers.
How the ninth inning unfolded
Jo Adell stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and the score tied. The Cardinals' pitcher hit him. Zach Neto trotted home. That was the game, and it ended the longest such streak in Angels history, according to ESPN's reporting.
The 'tarps off' cheer and its double meaning
Hundreds of fans in Angel Stadium's right field removed their shirts and waved them overhead, visible as early as the top of the eighth inning, when Los Angeles trailed 2-1. The ritual is called the "tarps off" cheer, and it arrived in Anaheim from Busch Stadium, where Cardinals fans debuted it this season. On May 15, Cardinals faithful performed it during a game against the Kansas City Royals. Manager Oliver Marmol said the moment made him want to buy tickets for the fans who participated. The Angels version has been running since May.
What's changed is the freight the cheer carries in Anaheim. From those same right-field seats, "Sell the team" chants have become a fixture in 2025. Owner Arte Moreno has drawn sustained criticism from the fan base. The Angels have not made the playoffs since 2014.
The counterargument
The counterargument is straightforward. One walk-off win, against one team, does not close the gap on a losing season. The Angels sit 11 games out of first place in the AL West. The risk is that a night like Monday gets read as evidence of a trend when the standings carry no such signal. Crowd energy is real; it is also the easiest thing to misread as structural change.
On balance
On balance, the streak is over. The record is 40-61. The line to watch is whether the right-field movement stays pointed at the ownership box or turns back toward the scoreboard.