On Monday, the Reds and Dusty Baker agreed to a two-year contract extension. This was a no-brainer.

There are Reds fans out there who will point to Dusty’s lack of postseason success and say that he is not the man for the job. True, Dusty has never been very good at managing in the postseason and has never won a World Series because of it. If we are going to truly analyze his extension, we must have a person to compare him to. I haven’t heard any suggestions.

What Dusty did this year— lead the Reds to 97 wins and a National League Central Division Championship— cannot be accomplished by any replacement manager. Among those begging for Dusty to not be resigned, a common argument was that the regular season doesn’t mean anything if it never leads to a ring. Point taken. I’ve been suffering as a San Diego Chargers fan for years: watching my team make the playoffs and fail over and over again. Before that, similar to the Reds and any other professional sports team, the Chargers bad years. Without Dusty in the Reds’ dugout, bad years may come.

Will the Dusty-led Reds win it all next season? Or the season after that? I don’t know. But I think Dusty gives the team a great chance to get there. After all, the Reds can’t win it all without getting to the playoffs first.