ANAHEIM — While Gerrit Cole grew up rooting for the Yankees, the Newport Beach, California native spent plenty of time inside nearby Angel Stadium.

His parents had Angels season tickets, and he pitched in showcase events at the ballpark as he blossomed into one of the country’s top prospects. Cole was then pursued by his hometown team as a free agent after the 2019 season, but he ultimately signed a record-setting, nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees.

As the Halos’ owner, Arte Moreno was part of Anaheim’s courtship. And so, with the Angels popping up in multiple stages of Cole’s life, he weighed in on the Moreno family’s decision to sell the team to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for an MLB-record $4 billion valuation on Tuesday.

But Cole had more of a business-oriented reaction to the agreement, rather than a sentimental one, with a contentious labor battle already underway and the baseball world bracing for a work stoppage after the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on Dec. 1. The pitcher, who previously served on the Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive subcommittee, repeatedly noted how the perennially disappointing Angels fetched more than the consistently competitive Padres, who sold for $3.9 billion earlier this year.

“The purchase price is incredible, otherworldly,” Cole said. “I mean, to sell for more than the Padres speaks to the market itself here and the history of the club and how desirable it is. We’re bringing more capital into the game, which is great. The Kroenke family has a really good reputation of running class organizations throughout the world, and so hopefully this will be a great boost to the game in general to have them involved in baseball.

“It shows that there’s ability to get top dollar on both ends of the spectrum. That’s kind of fascinating. You have a club that’s spending high payroll, competing a lot, really kind of turned around their brand in San Diego, and you have a club that’s been struggling [in Anaheim]. And yet both are commanding premium dollars. I think that would speak to how healthy economically the game is functioning.”

Cole spoke of the Angels’ sale, announced earlier in the day, after making his first start at Angel Stadium since 2022 on Tuesday. The Yankees’ ace, now 18 starts removed from Tommy John surgery, totaled eight hits, three earned runs, one walk, five strikeouts and 90 pitches in the homecoming, a 7-3 win for the Bombers.

While the Angels did knock the Yankees around on Monday, the team hasn’t won much under Moreno, who bought the franchise from The Walt Disney Company for $183.5 million in May 2003.

The Angels, who won the World Series in 2002, have been to the playoffs just six times since despite occasionally spending on high-priced free agents. Their last postseason appearance came in 2014, and the team, generally speaking, hasn’t kept up with the advancements of modern baseball.

“Knowing Arte over the years, it’s clear he really enjoyed the game. I think after a while, the complexities of it, all of it certainly changed,” Cole’s agent, Scott Boras, said Tuesday. “But when you’re a businessman and you start at about $800 million when you buy the team, and all of a sudden you’re worth $6-7 billion after owning it, I’d have to say that’s a pretty successful venture from a business perspective.”

Those figures, of course, don’t matter to disgruntled Angels fans, who chanted “Sell The Team” Monday night before having their wish granted the next morning.

On Tuesday, more chants echoed in the stands: “Goodbye Arte” and “F—k You Arte.”

One fan held an Angel-red sign with the letters “KSE,” a stamp of approval for the team’s new impending ownership group.

Boras, another son of California, was also excited to see Stan Kroenke, KSE’s owner and chairman, taking over the Angels. According to Forbes, Kroenke has a net worth of $24.3 billion, which will make him the richest owner in baseball.

Kroenke also presides over the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, MLS’ Colorado Rapids, and the Premier League’s Arsenal F.C. Four of his teams have won championships in their respective sports over the last five years.

“He’s won in the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, soccer. Who doesn’t want championship owners to come to the game?” Boras said. “And he seems as though he appoints his staff, doesn’t micromanage. Kind of an ideal owner.”

Boras added that Kroenke and the Angels “probably need a new stadium.” Whether that happens remains to be seen, but one of the agent’s top clients is still fond of the team’s current home.

“It’s always special pitching here for me,” said Cole, whose wife and kids were in attendance on Tuesday. “I mean, they played the same Train ‘Calling All Angels’ song pregame since I was 5 years old. It triggers me every time I come here. I played high school ball on this field. I watched the Angels win a World Series on this field. So it’s impossible to walk in here and not bring that bag of memories with you every time.”