Angels release statement following sudden departure of longtime broadcaster

The first clue came last week, when Patrick O’Neal changed the “About” section of his LinkedIn profile to read “free agent.”

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A few eagle-eyed fans took to social media to remark on the absence of O’Neal, a fixture on the Los Angeles Angels’ pre- and postgame shows (and an occasional play-by-play broadcaster) for more than a decade.

On May 13, the Angels finally addressed O’Neal’s absence, without saying why he left. Perhaps the reason was too obvious.

“The Angels organization would like to thank Patrick O’Neal for his 13 years of dedication to the Angels broadcast team,” read a statement posted to the Angels’ PR account on X. “He brought a sense of pride to each telecast, something that was felt by Angels fans watching at home.”

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The Angels were among the last MLB teams to terminate their contract with Main Street Sports Group, the soon-to-be-defunct network that had aired the team’s games on a local cabel channel. The channel has since re-branded as “Angels Broadcast TV.”

The knockdown effects of Main Street’s bankruptcy touched everything from the Angels’ free agent signings to their decision to stop sending their radio broadcasters, Terry Smith and Mark Langston, .