Anaheim Angels manager and current longest-tenured manager in Major League Baseball, Mike Scioscia will step down at the end of this season when his decade-long contract expires.
Scioscia played his entire MLB career with the Dodgers from 1980-1992, before going on to manage and coach in their minor league system. In 1999, he was hired by the Angels after Terry Collins resigned with 29 games left on the season.
A two-time Manager of the Year, Scioscia has the 6th longest managerial tenure in MLB history. Under his leadership, the Angels have won six division titles and the franchise’s only World Series in 2002 after a 16-year playoff drought. Five of their six division titles came in a six-year span, more titles than won by all of Scioscia’s predecessors combined. In doing so, Scioscia became the first manager to reach the postseason in six of his first ten seasons.
Unfortunately for Scioscia, these feats were all nearly a decade ago. Today, the pressure to win is higher than ever, and failure is rarely tolerated for long. Though the Angels started the season almost as hot as the Red Sox, they’re now 55-57, in 4th place in the West, and 16 games behind the first-place Astros. You’d hardly know that Mike Trout was even on this team.
The Angels haven’t made the playoffs since the 2014 division series. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, and their last pennant and only championship were both in the 2002 season.
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