Top stories of 2017: Baker fired, Martinez hired

As we count down the final days of 2017, we're counting down the most significant stories of the year for the Nationals. Some are positive. Some are negative. All helped define this baseball season in Washington. We'll reveal two per day through New Year's Eve, continuing right now with ...

No. 2: Baker fired, Martinez hired

The question of Dusty Baker's future with the Nationals lurked underneath the surface for most of the 2017 season, but it never truly felt like that much of a question because of the way both Baker and Mike Rizzo answered anytime the subject came up.

"I've given some thought to some things, but we were told that we were waiting until after the season to make a determination," Baker said Oct. 3. "There's a good chance I'll be back, which I want to (be) back."

"We talk every day, and we're both confident that he'll be back with us," Rizzo said the following day, as the Nats prepared to open the National League Division Series against the Cubs.

When that series ended - with the Nats losing yet another five-game heartbreaker - there was no immediate move made, giving everyone more reason to believe a contract extension was forthcoming once things settled down.

But then came the announcement on Oct. 20, a full week after the season ended. Baker was out. The Nationals once again were searching for a new manager.

What happened? Well, the first-round exit certainly didn't help. Neither did a handful of Baker's in-game decisions during that series nor his handling of a post-rainout press conference at Wrigley Field in which he didn't adequately explain the surprising initial decision not to start Stephen Strasburg in Game 4 the following day. (Strasburg, who was battling an illness, did wind up starting after waking up in the morning feeling better, and pitched a gem to keep his team's season alive.)

But if left to make the call himself, Rizzo still would have retained Baker, according to sources familiar with the decision. The general manager, however, was not left to make the decision on his own. The eventual call was made by ownership, with managing principal owner Ted Lerner leading the way.

So it was that the Nationals, despite 192 wins and back-to-back division titles in the last two seasons, found themselves searching for the seventh manager in the club's 14 seasons in D.C.

The search did not take long. Rizzo and the Lerners interviewed at least three candidates: Dave Martinez, Kevin Long and John Farrell. Joe Girardi, let go by the Yankees while the Nationals were in the midst of their search, never formally interviewed.

And so only one week after dismissing Baker, the Nationals came to a deal with Martinez, the former Rays and Cubs bench coach who spent a decade as Joe Maddon's right-hand man and now is being given his first opportunity to manage.

Martinez, who also interviewed for the job four years earlier when Matt Williams was hired, had long been considered one of the next up-and-coming managers in baseball. Despite his lack of experience, the Lerner family made the kind of commitment they never had with any of their previous managers, inking Martinez to a three-year contract that has been the industry standard for first-timers.

The 53-year-old has spent the last two months assembling a coaching staff - only third base coach Bob Henley returns from Baker's staff - getting in touch with players and preparing a plan for spring training and beyond. He knows what is expected of him: As Rizzo made clear in dismissing Baker, the Nationals no longer view division titles as satisfactory. Success in October is required.

"This team doesn't lack much," Martinez said. "It really doesn't. I think we just gotta get over the fact that we're not here just to win a playoff game. We're here to win the World Series."