O’s clean house, fire Showalter

The Orioles fired manager Buck Showalter and executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette on Wednesday after the team finished with the worst record in the major leagues.

With Duquette procuring the talent and Showalter making it work on the field, Baltimore snapped a run of 14 straight losing seasons and made the playoffs in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

But the Orioles finished 75-87 in 2017 — losing 19 of their final 23 games — and this year staggered through a 47-115 season, the worst since the team moved to Baltimore in 1954.

Cubs: Chicago infielder Addison Russell accepted a 40-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy after a series of allegations made by his ex-wife.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the ban and said MLB had completed its investigation into the accusations made by Melisa Reidy. Russell had denied the allegations, which Reidy detailed in a blog post in September.

Russell’s unpaid suspension includes the 11 regular-season games he missed after being placed on administrative leave Sept. 21. He will also participate in an evaluation and treatment program.

Also, Joe Maddon will return as Cubs manager for a fifth season, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said.

Maddon has one year left on his contract. He has a 387-261-1 record with playoff appearances in each of his four seasons in Chicago, including a World Series title in 2016.