Dusty Baker’s Boys Are Going Hard To Complete the Houston Astros Redemption Song | The Ring Is The Thing

Dusty Baker’s Boys Are Going Hard To Complete the Houston Astros Redemption Song | The Ring Is The Thing

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – There is only one thing that Dusty Baker needs to do in order to statistically cement his legacy as one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen: win a World Series. He’s already established his value among the greatest skippers, and he’s said time and again that a World Series win would be sweet, but it doesn’t make or break his legacy or his feelings about an illustrious career that has lasted decades. 

After pulling off a 3-2 win against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, the Astros have a commanding 2-0 series lead heading to the Bronx. Now they are only two wins from returning to the Fall Classic, which would be their fourth time in six years. 

If the Astros hold on and win this series, it will be Baker’s third World Series appearance in his managerial career, with this season being the second straight crack at a ring. Baker has done everything you can ask a manager to do. He has led five different teams to division titles, he is only one of nine managers to win pennants in both leagues, one of 12 to have at least 2,000 managerial wins, and has won the manager of the year in the NL three times. 

 

 

His influence on the culture and spot in Cooperstown is secured when he decides to call it quits, but the ring is still vital to his resumé so that his career can be kept in proper historical perspective moving forward. 

When people argue who the greatest of all-time is, not just for best MLB manager, but for participants in any pro sport, the ones who are always in that conversation all have rings, because at the end of the day, championships are the number one thing anyone looks at over any statistic. 

Of course, there are plenty of all-time greats that have never won it all, but they are never considered to be the greatest since they were never able to help bring a team to the promised land. So that is the historical conundrum that Dusty Baker finds himself in right now. 

Baker definitely will be considered an all-time great, but he will not be a contender for greatest of all time. 

If there was any team that could finally help Baker get over that edge, it would be the 2022 Houston Astros. They are playing a Yankees team that had a very underachieving second half of the season, and the Astros are in command of the series. If the Stros do advance, then they would face a sub-90-win NL pennant winner and would be huge favorites in that series.

But all of what happened in the regular season does not matter. The teams that are successful in October are the ones who are hot at the right time. But the best part for Baker is, he’s not leading a team that’s just hot, he’s leading a team that is absolutely scorching, as they have not lost in this postseason yet.

 

 

If he just wins one championship, just one, whether it is with the Astros, or another team in the future, then he will get his seat at that exclusive table of the greatest managers of all time. If he doesn’t, he’ll have to settle for being a living legend whose contributions to the game and baseball culture are equaled by few, if any.  

Dusty Baker & The Sands Of The Hour Glass| Will The Distinguished MLBbro Finally Win The World Series?

Dusty Baker & The Sands Of The Hour Glass| Will The Distinguished MLBbro Finally Win The World Series?

If there was a time for the stench of cheating to come off the Houston Astros only World Series title then the time appears to be right now.

Dusty Revives The Integrity 

Nearly five years removed from the elation and embarrassment that fell onto the Houston Astros organization after being outed by Major League Baseball for creating an unfair competitive advantage during the 2017 World Series by cheating, the Astros find themselves poised for another run at baseball’s biggest prize.

The American League West division champs have flown under the radar while excelling under the steady, cool leadership of Dusty Baker for the last two seasons.

All Baker has done is restore the credibility of an organization that simply went rogue to win the world championship.

He came in and put them in a position to win another one, guiding them to the playoffs in the pandemic shortened season in 2020 and running it back this season.

Kevlar In The Dugout 

Baker has been the kevlar which has protected the team and the franchise with the same understated brilliance that marked his career as a player.

Behind his cool demeanor there is the fight of a warrior and the heart of a champion.

Those are attributes that helped him lead the San Francisco Giants to the 2002 World Series and his Chicago Cubs team teased the fans on the north side of Chicago in 2003.

Baker has massaged complex personalities such as Barry Bonds, while dealing with the character assaults and PED suspicions that followed Bonds as he was breaking baseball’s all-time home run mark.

Franchise Rejuvenator 

He helped end the myth that fans would only show up at Wrigley Field to have a good time and watch the Cubs flop, by vaccinating them from a disease call losing. He’s also never threatened Steve Bartman, so Dusty is also a gentleman.

Still he’s underappreciated, and the question remains why?

All Baker has done is win everything but win the big one. Heading into this postseason it would appear that it’s the only thing keeping him out of the conversation of greatest skippers of all-time. He’ll surely make the Hall of Fame without a ring as a manager.

Hall of Fame Worthy 

His critics still question his acumen after decades of success, regarding in game strategy and how he works his bullpen, especially during the postseason.

That’s why his contract apparently wasn’t renewed in D.C. and Davey Martinez was handed a championship team that was groomed for its magical run by players who had been under Baker’s stewardship.

The Astros haven’t re-signed him for next season so it appears he may be managing for his baseball life.

Davey Johnson and Billy Martin have managed four different teams to the playoffs while Tony LaRussa – his foil in the AL Division Series – has managed three with this year being his second time around with the Chicago White Sox.

All that separates Baker and his 1983 career wins from them on the credible reverence meter is a World Series ring.

At 71, and having said that Houston was the last stop on his fantastic voyage, this may be the final chance for Dusty to join fellow MLBbro managers Cito Gaston and Dave Roberts as the only Black Knights of managing to win the World Series.