A baseball legend could return to the Los Angeles Angels’ dugout this offseason … as the team’s new manager. Former Angels slugger and St. Louis Cardinals legend Albert Pujols is expected to interview for the team’s vacant managerial spot, according to baseball insider Jon Heyman.
The news comes a day after the team announced it parted ways with Ron Washington.
While Pujols is better known for his time in St. Louis — where he hit a phenomenal .326/.417/.614 over 12 seasons — he spent 10 years with the Angels toward the end of his career. Pujols’ numbers declined precipitously during the back-end of that deal, and he was released during the 2021 MLB season. Pujols quickly joined the Dodgers, where he went on to experience a late-career resurgence for the next season-and-a-half before retiring from baseball.
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Following his retirement, Pujols opted for a career as a manager. He was named the manager of the Leones del Escogido, a professional baseball team in the Dominican Republic, ahead of the 2024 season. Pujols helped lead the team to win the Serie Final last season and the 2025 Caribbean Series.
Though Pujols has yet to manage in MLB, it’s believed he’s Angels owner Arte Moreno’s top choice for the position, per The Athletic.
Pujols is expected to manage the Dominican Republic in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. If he were to get the Angels’ job, Pujols would likely have to step down as the Dominican Republic’s manager.
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The Angels are looking for stability after an 11-year playoff drought. The last time the Angels made the playoffs came in 2014, when they were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the Division Series. The Angels haven’t won the American League West since that year and have finished higher than fourth in the division just three times since then.
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