It appears that Dusty Baker’s time at the helm of the Houston Astros is coming to an end.
The Texas Rangers defeated the Astros 11-4 in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday, ending Houston’s bid to make a third straight World Series appearance.
According to Brittany Ghiroli and Chandler Rome of The Athletic, Baker has expressed to multiple people within the organization that this season will be his last as the team’s manager. Baker has not made this official and declined to comment when asked directly by The Athletic about this report.
Baker, 74, just completed his 26th season as a manager in Major League Baseball. He holds a career regular-season record of 2,183-1,862 and won a World Series title with the Astros in 2022. Baker went 320-226 in Houston, good for the second-best winning percentage in franchise history. He also led the Astros to four straight ALCS runs and took the team to two World Series.
Dusty Baker, 74, has reportedly told several people within the Astros organization that this season will be his last as the team’s manager. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) (Daniel Shirey via Getty Images)
Baker – who played as an MLB outfielder from 1968 to 1986 – began his managerial career in 1993 with the San Francisco Giants, where he spent 10 years. He then worked for the Chicago Cubs for four seasons, the Cincinnati Reds for six seasons and the Washington Nationals for two seasons before joining Houston in 2020.
Should Baker actually retire, the Astros would join the Giants, Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Angels and New York Mets as the fifth team in the league to look for a new manager this offseason. Baker will likely finalize his decision in the coming days after the Astros are eliminated from the postseason.
Although it appears that Baker plans to retire from the day-to-day part of the game, he is apparently not ready to fully retire from the sport just yet. Rather, it sounds like he’s hoping to transition into a front office-like position.
“When he’s done leading, I know he can bring a lot of knowledge to an organization,” Baker’s wife, Melissa, told The Athletic. “I know he can help build a winner. My husband just wants to win and he’s a winner.”