Three days after winning the World Series, the Houston Astros announced Wednesday that they were granting manager Dusty Baker’s request for a one-year extension.

After 25 seasons as an MLB manager and more than five decades in the sport, his championship victory merely affirms the fact that he should get whatever he wants at this point in his career.

When Baker took over in Houston in 2020, his job was to provide stability and likability to a team under fire. The Astros were reeling from the offseason investigation of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal, one that resulted in suspensions for manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow. Perhaps even more importantly, however, the team became the most vilified in recent sports history.

Though Baker entered with an immense amount of good will among fans, having coached for the Giants, Cubs, Reds and Nationals since 1993, the team still suffered under seething vitriol for a time. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, road games would have been hostile all season, like they were in spring training that year.

From the very beginning though, Baker remained focused in the face of open contempt, insisting that no form of cheating would ever occur on his team. Though the team hired him to be a friendly face, he said that his goal was to win as many games as he could. He did well, guiding the team to the ALCS in 2020 and a World Series appearance in 2021.

In a 2022 season full of powerful contenders, Baker guided the team to a 106-win season. While other favorites wilted in the playoffs, Houston thrived, sweeping the Mariners and Yankees to advance to the World Series for the second straight year.

In 1981, Baker won a championship as an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but as a manager, he had been chasing another ring for more than two decades. A Game 6 victory Sunday over the Philadelphia Phillies finally made it a reality, as the Astros won their third World Series in six years and first since the sign-stealing scandal was exposed. It was legitimate.

But as Baker has repeatedly said over the years, if he was going to win one championship, he would always want to go for two. The organization has rightfully granted him that opportunity with a well-deserved extension.

“How many times in your life do you say something and then have the opportunity to fulfill it?” Baker said Wednesday. “I wasn’t just talking. I meant what I said. I love keeping my word. We’ve got a chance to win back-to-back and this is what I’d like to do.”

He’s 73 years old, the oldest coach to ever win a championship in professional sports. On nearly any other team in the league, he might have been blamed for the organization’s woes and ousted by now. But as the leader of the Astros, a team long on talent but short on fan sentiment, Baker has found the perfect spot to end his career. He’s done enough for Houston and the sport beyond to leave on his own terms, and if he believes there’s more on the horizon, it’s hard to question him.

“I’d be going against what I was destined to do if I did anything else at this point in time,” Baker said. “I prayed on it and my answer was, ‘Hey man, get your butt back out there and manage again.’”

Houston Astros star Zack Greinke silenced the Oakland Athletics’ crowd on Thursday night. Greinke pitched six shutout innings and struck out four batters in an Astros 8-1 win. Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman added to Houston’s scoring with back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning.

However, A’s fans jeered the Astros with boos during the pregame introductions. In addition, fans held up signs with trashcans on them and chanted “cheaters” at the Astros. A’s fans gave a loud cheer when Houston’s Carlos Correa was hit by A’s starter Chris Bassitt‘s fastball in the fourth inning.

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The jeering from the crowd was not enough to affect an Astros squad that steamrolled the A’s. Aided by a pair of home runs by Bregman and Brantley, the Astros absolutely dominated Oakland. The other big offensive contributions came from designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, who hit an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, finishing the game with 3 RBI.

“Got to hear some boos, finally. That wasn’t fun to listen to, I didn’t think, but we played good so it didn’t matter,” Greinke said. “Hopefully we’ll keep playing good and it won’t be as big of an issue.”

“That’s fine, this is a veteran team,” Brantley said. “We’ve been in the World Series, we’ve been in the playoffs.” The hitter continued, “They can boo, they can yell, they can do whatever they want. But at the end of the day we have each other’s backs, and that’s all that matters,” Brantley said.

The jeers are not limited to the Athletics. Every other team across Major League Baseball will want to instigate the Astros. This stems from the Houston’s infamous cheating scandal that occurred in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. A league investigation found that Houston used a camera to illegally spy and steal the opposing team’s pitching signals. The team would then relay it to hitters by banging on trash cans. The cheating helped the Astros win the World Series in 2017.

After the investigation, the league suspended Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for one year, and they were subsequently fired by Houston. The organization was fined $5 million and forfeited first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.

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MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke for the first time since doling out punishment to the Houston Astros for the organization’s role in sign stealing during the 2017 World Series. In a press conference on Sunday, Manfred addressed the contributing factors leading to his decision.

“When we began the investigation after we became aware of the Houston situation, we started with an important and fundamental goal,” Manfred said. “That was goal was to make sure that we found the facts, completed the investigation, found out what was going on, and put ourselves in position to be as transparent with our fans and other clubs. People had a right to know what happened and we achieved that goal.”

Manfred initially suspended manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for one year due to their role in the scheme and the Astros subsequently fired both shortly after Manfred’s decision. The team was also fined $5 million which is the highest amount allowed in the MLB Constitution and were also stripped of multiple draft picks.

Although these punishments were justified, fans and players of opposing teams questioned why Astros’ players faced zero punishment. “I understand people’s desire to have the players pay a price for what went on here,” Manfred said in an ESPN interview. “I think if you watch the players, watch their faces when they have to deal with this issue publicly, they have payed a price. To think that they’re skipping down the road into spring training happy, that’s just a mischaracterization of where we are.”

During the interview, Manfred later added, “Independent of what the GM did, the manager did, (the players) have an obligation to play by the rules and they didn’t do it. I understand when people say the players should’ve been punished. I understand why they feel that way … If I was in a world where I could’ve found all the facts without granting immunity, I would’ve done that.”

In essence, Manfred claims the players are being punished enough by having to deal with public embarrassment.

“I believed that the most fundamental obligation was to get the facts, put them out there, and let people make their own judgment,” Manfred said. “If you look at the face of the Houston players as they’ve been out there publicly addressing the situation, they’ve been hurt by this.”

When addressing the claims that Astros’ second baseman Jose Altuve wore a buzzer or a certain device under his jersey to detect what pitches were coming, Manfred replied, “You’re never 100 percent sure in any of these things, but these were my best judgments.We were aware of the (Altuve video) well before we commenced the investigation. It was in fact part of the investigation. Here’s where I came down on it: the players were candid about 2017 and the fact they violated the rules in 2017. They were candid and consistent that the rules were violated in 2018. They were equally consistently in their denials about this buzzer situation. I think in my own mind, it was hard for me to figure out why they would tell us — given that they were immune — why they would be truthful and admit they did the wrong thing and ’17, admit they did the wrong thing in ’18, and then lie about what was going on in ’19.”

The Red Sox are also awaiting punishment for their involvement with sign stealing during the 2018 World Series. Manfred says he expects the investigation will conclude by the end of next week, according to CBS Sports.