It's been 41 years since Dusty Baker won a World Series title.
He reached the peak in 1981 with the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium after they beat the New York Yankees in six games, avenging World Series defeats in 1977 and 1978. Baker was a 32-year-old left fielder in his prime, months removed from his first All-Star Game appearance. He believed it was just the first of his championships. He assumed another would come. Then another one.
But another one never came. Not in his final five seasons as a player, and not in his first 24 years as a manager. Baker's 2,093 wins as a manager are the most in major league history without a championship. A title would cement his National Baseball Hall of Fame case. A year after falling short in the World Series, Johnnie B. Baker is on the cusp again.
