Report: Angels' Scioscia expected to step down following season

Major League Baseball's longest-tenured bench boss is ready to move on.

Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is expected to step down following 2018 after 19 seasons with the club, sources told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

With his current 10-year, $50-million contract set to expire, he is apparently stepping away on his own accord and not due to any pressure from the team.

Scioscia managed his first game for the Angels on April 3, 2000, seven seasons after ending a 13-year playing career as a catcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The high point of his managerial career came in 2002 when Los Angeles defeated Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series. Additionally, the Angels have won six division titles during his run and, on a personal level, Scioscia has taken home a pair of American League Manager of the Year awards.

This season hasn't exactly gone according to plan. Injuries have spoiled what once looked like a promising campaign with the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Zack Cozart joining Mike Trout, Andrelton Simmons, and Justin Upton on the roster. Entering Sunday, the Angels are 55-57 and 15.5 games behind the division-leading Houston Astros.

His 19 seasons is the longest stretch by any manager with a single team since Bobby Cox led the Atlanta Braves for 21 straight years from 1990 through 2010.

If Scioscia does leave the Angels, Giants manager Bruce Bochy will take over as the most senior manager in the majors after taking the position ahead of the 2007 season.

There is no word on whether or not the 59-year-old would return to managing - neither he nor general manager Billy Eppler commented - but his history in Anaheim will make him a coveted name if he throws his hat back into the ring.