In this day and age in professional sports, the only thing that keeps a manager’s job secure is a championship title. Dusty Baker may not win one this year, but he shouldn’t be ousted because of it.
It’s not easy being a coach or manager for a professional sports team.
In this era of sports, if someone does not capture a national title or earn a postseason berth, they are in jeopardy of losing their positions. Boston fired manager John Farell despite winning a World Series title in his first season and earning playoff berths in three of his five years.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker shouldn’t be next, even if he doesn’t bring Washington it’s first World Series championship this season.
Fans may disagree after looking at the skipper’s resume. Baker has 22 years under his belt with just one NL to brag about. That was in 2002 with the San Francisco Giants, who lost to the Anaheim Angels in the World Series that year.
Baker is arguably in his prime, thanks to a Nationals squad that has performed exceptionally well throughout the past two years. Washington’s 97-65 regular season record is the second-best in his managerial career – the 1993 Giants went 103-59 in his first ever year as a head coach.
But despite his poor performances in the playoffs, Washington still had two tremendous regular seasons in 2016 and 2017. In both years with Baker in charge, the Nationals ranked in the top eight in runs scored and in the top six in team ERA. Only one other team has ranked close to that in the past two years – the Chicago Cubs.
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Nationals:
2016 – No. 8 in runs scored, No. 2 in team ERA
2017 – No. 5 in runs scored, No. 6 in team ERA
Cubs:
2016 – No. 3 in runs scored, No. 1 in team ERA
2017 – No. 4 in runs scored, No. 7 in team ERA
Baker also had to deal with several unpredictable obstacles this season. Starting outfielder Adam Eaton, who was extraordinary in April, suffered a season-ending injury after on month. Young gun Trea Turner battled injuries all season and played in less than 100 games.
The pitching staff situation wasn’t easy to maneuver either. Until Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson arrived, the closing unit was one of the worst in the league, especially after the team lost Koda Glover to injury. And the injury scares to Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer wasn’t helpful either.
Yet Baker was able to piece together a better regular season than last year. However, as most people will argue, it doesn’t matter unless the team performs well in the playoffs.
Not everyone can be Bruce Bochy, who ingeniously guided his Giants teams to three championships with less-stellar rosters. Yes, Baker must be able to carry his teams through October unscathed. That’s not an easy task, considering just how deep the Cubs, Dodgers and other clubs in the National League are.
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Nevertheless, Baker has a higher winning percentage than every former manager for Washington or Montreal. Maybe he’s had enough chances to prove himself to be a mastermind in October.
With the Nationals looking as dangerous as ever, the team’s owners shouldn’t give up on the veteran coach just yet.