The Angels have fired Joe Maddon

Joe Maddon helped bring the Cubs what we had all been waiting for, for 108 years.

He and the team moved on after 2019 and he signed a three-year deal to manage the Angels, the organization where he’d started his career and spent 31 years, including a couple of stints as interim manager in 1996 and 1999.

Maddon’s first two Angels teams were underachievers, in part due to injuries. But they got off to a great 27-17 start this year, and hopes were high in Anaheim.

Like last year’s Cubs, the Angels are in freefall, currently on a 12-game losing streak in which they’ve been outscored 78-35.

And so:

Maddon is 68 and I suspect his managerial career is over. It’s too bad he has to go out on a note like this, but... when teams do what the Angels are doing, the manager is often a scapegoat.

If this is it for Maddon, he finishes with 1,383 wins, 1,216 losses, the Cubs World Series title and another WS appearance for the Rays in 2008. Personally, I think being the manager who finally broke the drought should be enough for Maddon to get into the Hall of Fame in a few years. I certainly wish him well and have nothing but great memories of his five years as Cubs manager.