The Los Angeles Angels, amid a 12-game losing streak that has haunted their remarkable start to the season, fired Joe Maddon as coach on Tuesday.
Phil Nevin has been named interim coach, the team announced.
The Angels were 10 games above the .500 two weeks ago, but have since fallen to 27-29. The 12-game skating tied the franchise’s record for one season, putting the Angels in danger of losing the postseason for the eighth year in a row despite an extended postseason field.
On Monday night, Boston Red Sox starter Michael Wacha left the Angels out, dropping them 8 and a half games behind the Houston Astros to take first place in the U.S. Western League.
Maddon told The Athletic that he was surprised by the decision of first CEO Perry Minasian.
“You always trust those responsible to read the tea leaves correctly. This time, they didn’t,” Maddon said. “You didn’t even have to ask me. You can ask any of the players or coaches. They’re the ones who really know.
“Perry was in a difficult spot. I get it. Let me put it this way. I would really trust the feelings of the coaches and the players.”
Maddon, three-time coach of the year, was in his third season with the organization with which he previously spent four decades as a player and coach. Maddon, 68, was Mike Scioscia’s bench coach on the team that won the 2002 World Series, then moved on to a very successful nine-year career with the low-budget Tampa Bay Rays. In 2016, he led the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series championship in over 100 years.
The Angels hired Maddon as manager in October 2019, a move that was widely celebrated throughout the organization. But the Angels finished the 2020 and 2021 seasons below .500 and are suddenly in danger of doing so again in 2022, which was the last guaranteed year of their contract.
The decision to fire Maddon represents the third major exit overseen by Minasian, who previously released Albert Pujols and Justin Upton. Nevin, 51, spent a dozen years in the major leagues, mostly as a cornerback, and was hired as the Angels’ third baseman in the low season.
The Angels have not won any postseason games despite employing the best player in the game, Mike Trout, since 2012, and the pressure to play in October has only increased with the appearance of the two-way Shohei sensation. Ohtani. Its last winning season was in 2015. Since then, the team has been hit mainly by a lack of pitch quality and a shallow depth throughout its 40-man squad. His six consecutive losing seasons mark the longest streak of the majors.
The Angels started the season 27-17 this season, fueled by a powerful offense and the encouraging performances of the starting pitchers. But since then they have a differential of less than 43 races and an ERA worse than 6.31 of the AL. No team has ever made it to the playoffs in a season in which it has lost at least 12 straight games, but the field has expanded to 12 teams under the new collective agreement.
“We have injured guys. The bullpen had a very difficult time. And we just stopped hitting,” Maddon told The Athletic. “It’s just one of those things that got infected. It wasn’t a matter of camaraderie or a lack of leadership. It was a calamity that happened at the same time.”