Dusty Baker Urges the Astros to Re-sign Carlos Correa, a 3-Year-Old Party Queen Steals the Show and Priceless Family Moments Seal Another Houston Title

Carlos Correa hugs Jose Altuve and in another moment he’s running for the stands to hug his wife Daniella and kiss her pregnant belly. If this is the heartbeat of the Houston Astros’ last clinching celebration with his guys — or just the first this year in another epic run to come — he’s going to enjoy every magic moment of it.  They all are.

Heck, soon Dusty Baker will find himself drinking beer from a shoe.

“Dusty — by far today,” Alex Bregman says when someone asks who had the best celebration. “Dusty dancing was good. He did a shoe-y. Nice little beer chug out of a shoe. It was good.”

For the record, the chug came from a brand-new, never worn Adidas baseball cleat.

“We kept it classy,” Bregman deadpans. Clinching a playoff berth for the fifth straight season, and the sixth time in seven years dating back to that first run in 2015, calls for a party with some novel twists. Like the Astros’ 72-year-old baseball lifer of a manager getting shoe-y with it. Or veteran first baseman Yuli Gurriel’s mom hugging everyone in sight.

It’s hard to imagine anyone having more fun than 3-year-old Anaiah Maldonado though. The daughter of Astros catcher Martin Maldonado gets picked up and swung high in the air by Correa with Anaiah giggling all the way. She gets plenty of hugs from Yuli’s mom of course. And just beams through an extended embrace with Orbit, the Astros’ furry green alien mascot.

Little Anaiah Maldonado is definitely living her best life — and she already has bragging rights over her little baby brother Aiden, who is still too young to remember much of any of this on-field party.

This sixth playoff clinch of the best era in Astros’ franchise history is the most family orientated one of them all. In part because even the Astros young stars are of the age where they’re starting to have kids or starting to think about having kids now. And in part because that’s just the atmosphere Dusty Baker seems to build on clubs he manages.

Baker is not done yet either. After Carlos Correa makes this celebration possible by smashing a three run homer up in the train tracks above left field to account for all the runs his team needs in the 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Astros manager wishes upon a star. And openly pulls for the Astros to re-sign the free agent shortstop to be this offseason.

“He’s Big Game Carlos to me,” Baker says amid the on-field postgame fun. “The guy comes through time and time again. He believes he’s going to come through. You take his defense for granted. I’m just hoping there’s a way that we can retain him and sign Carlos because he’s a big part of this team. Not only on the field. But he’s one of the real leaders on this team.”

The now 27-year-old Correa has grown into a Man in Full, a Superstar in Full with the Astros. He is about to become a dad. He’s already a big brother to many of his teammates — and the fun uncle to teammates’ kids like Anaiah Maldonado.

“It’s so amazing,” Daniella Correa says. “Just in general to be able to go into this journey with him. I know he’s going to be such an amazing dad. I love the fact that he has this incredible moment in his career, but he still makes it about his family.”

Carlos Correa and the Power of Big Heart

It turns out that the team that the rest of baseball tries so hard to villainize is led by one big heart. Of course, it’s easier to just bang on a trash can or show up at a ballpark wearing an Oscar The Grouch costume than think about that uncomfortable dichotomy.

Still, no matter how much they’re hated throughout the Big Leagues, these Astros may be Houston’s most beloved sports team ever. They won the World Series when their city was beyond reeling from Hurricane Harvey. And they just keep stacking up more moments.

On this night, it’s Lance McCullers Jr. — who former general manager Jeff Luhnow was able  to grab with a supplemental first round pick in 2012 because he drafted Correa No. 1 rather than a larger contract demanding prospect — showing no hit stuff early and limiting the Rays to two runs in six innings. McCullers Jr. being on the mound for the American League West clincher could not be more fitting.

For the man who closed out Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS and started Game 7 of the 2017 World Series will likely get the ball for the first pitch of the best-of-5 division series with the dangerous Chicago White Sox next week. Yes, the 27-year-old McCullers is all grown up too, ready to take on the mantle of being the No. 1 starter on a playoff force, following in the footsteps of his buddies and mentors Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander before him.

“I’m just hoping there’s a way that we can retain him and sign Carlos (Correa) because he’s a big part of this team. Not only on the field. But he’s one of the real leaders on this team.” — Astros manager Dusty Baker

Daniella Correa and Kara McCullers, Lance’s wife, are even sitting next to each other for this clincher, alternately pumping each other up and steadying each other. When Carlos Correa hits that mammoth home run — and turns to the Astros dugout, so he can watch his teammates go crazy for several seconds — Kara McCullers and Daniella Correa are popcorn buddies.

“I was eating popcorn,” Daniella Correa says. “And the minute that I saw he kind of started walking slow and that ball was like flying out, I put the popcorn down. I’m like ‘I need both of my arms for this.’ ”

Daniella laughs. It’s that kind of night. A night when the Astros’ usually buttoned down general manager James Click comes out of the clubhouse wearing goggles and flip flops, both soaked with champagne — and who knows what else — along with everything else on him.

“There’s champagne everywhere,” Click says, reliving the scene for reporters. “I smell terrible. Your eyes are stinging. But it’s just joy.”

As complicated as baseball can be made in this era of shifts, sabermetrics  and advanced stats, it really does still come down to these moments. It’s veteran outfielder Michael Brantley, who did not know if he’d be back with the Astros this season (and was all but already in Toronto instead at one point), hugging his guys. And allowing himself more smiles in one night than he usually allots for a month.

“It never gets old,” Brantley beams. The old hand of 13 MLB seasons seems to take just as much joy in pulling one of those souvenir American League West T-shirts on as anyone else. Baseball’s a grind. You’d better treasure something like this. Whenever — or how frequently — it comes. After all, CLINCHED is not frozen on the big centerfield scoreboard that often. No matter how good you are.

And treasure it, the Astros do. Jose Altuve tucks a cigar for latter in his back pocket. Outfielder Chas McCormick, who should get some playoff at-bats for the first time after being on the roster for two rounds but not playing last October, cannot stop grinning. Yordan Alvarez, the big slugger of few words, grabs a moment off on the side with his fiancee Monica Quiros and their daughter Mia and baby son Jordan.

It’s hard to imagine anyone having more fun than 3-year-old Anaiah Maldonado. The daughter of Astros catcher Martin Maldonado gets picked up and swung high in the air by Correa with Anaiah giggling all the way.

In many ways, Carlos Correa is now almost the Team Dad of this run, right along with the older Altuve. These two unusually driven men refuse to let the Astros settle for anything less than true championship pursuit.

“We’ve got a great ball club,” Correa says. “What the organization has built here is unbelievable.”

Correa is one of the heartbeats that keeps it going. The star who always seems to seize the moment. Astros Hall of Famer Craig Biggio is sitting with Click during the game — and he predicts that Correa will hit a home run when the shortstop goes up for that fateful fourth inning at-bat.

Correa admits that the fact this could be one of the last time he celebrates with this team, with his guys, crosses his mind. But his entire free agent season has been about grabbing onto every moment — and making it something special. And he’s not about to stop now.

“Right now I’m looking forward to the champagne,” Correa says on the field, less than 10 minutes after the game’s last pitch. “Maybe get drunk tonight.”

Why not? Just ask little Anaiah Maldonado. Carlos Correa can take you on one heck of a fun ride.