Joe Espada's first Astros Opening Day lineup would make Dusty Baker cringe

The Houston Astros made their seventh straight ALCS appearance last season, but something just didn't feel right from start to finish. The team wasn't as dominant as we had become accustomed to, and part of the reason for that was Dusty Baker.

It might seem crazy to claim that one of the winningest managers of all time was actively making the team worse, but Baker sure tried his best. His strange lineup decisions meant that the team was often not running out the best lineup that they could have. That's a major issue.

If there was any concern that the new manager, Joe Espada, would just copy Baker's ways, those concerns have quickly vanished with his first Opening Day lineup.

Joe Espada's first lineup is without a hint of Dusty Baker influence and Astros fans love it

Two players that Baker, for whatever reason, didn't seem to fully trust last season were Chas McCormick and Yainer Diaz. McCormick found himself benched often in favor of Mauricio Dubon who has an 87 OPS+ in his career. Dubon wound up starting Game 6 of last season's ALCS, a game in which the Astros lost.

The worst decision Dusty consistently made was starting Martin Maldonado, one of the worst hitters in the game, consistently behind the plate over Yainer Diaz who had one of the great rookie seasons in Astros history. Diaz hit 23 home runs in just 104 games played and started at catcher just 42 times. He started a grand total of one postseason game while Maldonado started the others, including Game 7 of the ALCS.

Another thing Dusty used to do religiously is separate Houston's two best hitters, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, because they're both left-handed. Baker is not the only manager to do that, but his reasoning makes little sense. Sure, they're both left-handed, but Alvarez and Tucker both hit left-handed pitching very well. In fact, Tucker had a higher OPS against lefties than righties last season.

This lineup gives Houston the best chance to win. Espada is not focusing on handedness or veteran leadership, he's simply putting the best players on the field in the most optimal spot of the order. Great start for Espada, now it's on the players to back it up when they open their season against the Yankees.