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Dusty Baker will not return as Washington Nationals’ manager in 2018; Twitter reacts

The baseball world had plenty of opinions about the Nationals’ decision to look for a new manager rather than bringing Dusty Baker back to D.C.

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MLB: NLDS-Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Nationals announced on Friday that manager Dusty Baker will not return for the 2018 season and beyond.

Baker helped the Nationals to a 97-65 record and their fourth division title this season.

It’s the first time the Nationals won back-to-back NL East titles in franchise history.

The news came at a bit of surprise for Baker, who’s now lost 10 consecutive postseason closeout games, as he was expected to have further negotiations with the Nationals in regards to his contract situation.

"I'm surprised and disappointed," Baker explained to USA Today.

"They told me they would get back to me and I told them I was leaving town yesterday and they waited 10 days to tell me.”

The news on Baker found itself on Twitter’s trending list as fans and reporters reacted to the situation.

The Nationals will now be searching for their seventh manager in the last 14 seasons.

“At the infancy of the Nationals we hired managers that could help us build through this thing, and as we got better, and as our expectations grew, we went with managers we felt that could get us to the next level,” Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo said in a conference call with reporters this afternoon, when asked about all the changes on the bench.

“That’s always been our goal, that continues to be our goal, but as the managers came and went, they were indicative of where we were in the developmental curve in the organization.”