Dusty Baker continues to be the Forrest Gump of Major League Baseball.
A wild fact about the Houston Astros manager went viral following Game 4 of the 2022 World Series on Wednesday. Baker’s side blanked the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0, throwing a combined no-hitter in the process. Jayson Stark of ESPN shared that, of three no-hitters in MLB postseason history, two of them have now taken place at Citizens Bank Park … and Baker was the visiting manager for both of them.
Baker managed the Cincinnati Reds in 2010 when late Phillies great Roy Halladay no-hit them in Game 1 of the NLDS.
You might be able to guess what the other no-hitter in MLB playoff history was — New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen’s iconic perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. While Halladay and now the Astros have since followed with playoff no-hitters, Larsen’s outing remains the only perfect game in the history of the MLB postseason.
Baker did spark some controversy with his decision-making in Wednesday’s combined no-hitter, but regardless, this is by far better than the last playoff coincidence that Baker found himself at the center of.
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