Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
Some of you have had this game circled on your calendars since the day the schedules were published. The Washington Nationals will have the Houston Astros in for a weekend series in a rematch of the 2019 World Series teams. The strangest twist is that Dusty Baker is now the manager of the Astros. He said in an interview about the good feelings about Washington, but still cannot let go about how he parted ways with the Nats in an interview he did this week with the Houston media. Expect a lot of mentions of Baker, and we will see if there will be any type of video board tribute to the manager who won two NL East titles in 2016 and 2017 for Washington.
There is no doubt in my mind that Baker will be a Hall of Fame manager. He could have retired three months ago without getting above the coveted 2,000 win mark, and made it to Cooperstown. He is one of the best in-season managers in baseball history, but unless he wins a World Series, he might be in a very small group of HOF managers who never hoisted the trophy. Dave Martinez has something that Baker wants more than that HOF, and that is the World Series ring. Few managers have them, and Martinez did it with a lesser team than that stacked 2017 D.C. team that many feel was the best that general manager Mike Rizzo assembled with multiple All-Star players when you consider Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Sean Doolittle, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Jayson Werth, Howie Kendrick, Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Wieters and Daniel Murphy were all part of that team.
It just shows that sometimes it is more about team chemistry and the right formula to win the final 11 games of the season (12 for a Wild Card team).
On the mound tonight for the Nats is Josiah Gray, and his manager has put in his top defense behind him.
Houston Astros vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN; Bally ATT Sportstnet SW; MLB App (out-0f-market only)
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Lineups (subject to change without notice):
Alcides Escobar is back at shortstop. https://t.co/I0AiSgCXBr
— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats) May 13, 2022
