Joe Maddon fired amid Angels' 12-game losing streak

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The Los Angeles Angels made a major change on Tuesday.

The team, which has lost 12 straight games, announced that it fired manager Joe Maddon. Third-base coach Phil Nevin was named the interim manager.

Maddon’s time with the Angels stretches back to his playing days. He was a catcher in the organization’s minor league system in the late 1970s before he transitioned to scouting and eventually coaching. His first MLB managerial experience came with the Angels in the 1990s with a handful of interim stretches late in the decade.

Maddon left Anaheim in 2005 to become the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ manager. He helped lead the team to its first ever World Series berth in 2008 and earned a 754-705 regular season record during his nine-year tenure in Tampa.

He then moved to Chicago in 2015 and helped the Cubs break their 108-year World Series drought in 2016. The Cubs had a winning record in all five seasons he spent with the team.

The Cubs cut ties with Maddon following the 2019 season, opening the door for him to re-join the Angels. His second stretch with the team has not gone according to plan, though.

The Angels finished with a losing record in 2020 and 2021 and did not reach the playoffs either season. Injuries have played a factor in that, as Trout played just 36 games in 2021, but the team has struggled to match the play of its AL West rivals since Maddon took over as manager.

Things appeared to be headed in a different direction to start 2022. The team started the year 27-17 and appeared on track for its first postseason appearance since 2014. Things have gone off the rails completely over the last two weeks, as the team dropped its last 12 games to fall out of a wild card position.

Nevin and the Angels will look to turn things around Tuesday night at home against the Boston Red Sox.

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