Every lineup reveal is treated like a United States presidential debate.

Every late-game decision by veteran manager Dusty Baker, who should eventually have a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is the latest and greatest controversy if the decision goes wrong.

Mauricio Dubón hitting leadoff while batting .195 with a .542 OPS?

Instant uproar.

Rafael Montero giving up three hits and three runs while walking two and receiving a loss, after José Urquidy had rolled through 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball?

Twitter and talk radio catch fire at the same time.

Trey Mancini being inexplicably stuck on Baker’s bench?

Thankfully, that’s old news. Yesterday’s newspaper. Water under the …

Wait.

Mancini wasn’t in Tuesday’s lineup against Dylan Cease and the Chicago White Sox, the game after the Astros blew a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and ended up with one of their most painful losses of the season?

And Dubón was in Baker’s lineup again, despite entering the day hitting .195 with a .542 OPS? (Those are bad numbers, by the way, even in this age of disappearing .300 hitters.)

#%!@!!! OMG. What is Dusty thinking?

You know the drill.

Look, a few things are going on here at once, and it’s time we faced the multiple facts.

1.) This is what happens when you win 101, 103 and 107 games after losing 106, 107 and 111, then fire your respected general manager and loved manager because of a still-debated scandal, then still keep winning big and enter mid-August of 2022 with a 2 ½ game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League.

Current GM James Click said it well after the deadline. The bar has been raised higher than ever in Houston. Winning 100-plus games falls below hoisting another World Series trophy on the organization’s to-do list.

“The standard for success here is incredibly high,” Click said. “So for me to sit here and say that this is the best team that we’ve had in the three years that I’ve been here, we’ll find out in October, honestly.”

2.) The Texans are rebuilding. The Rockets are rebuilding. The Dynamo are still losing. From a pro sports perspective — and this is unquestionably a pro sports city — the Astros are everything. A decade removed from the worst era in team history, every decision is now overanalyzed, every lineup is instantly second guessed and every game really does matter.

Think it doesn’t?

You’re wrong.

The Astros can beat the Yankees without homefield advantage in the AL Championship Series. But they won the 2017 and ’19 ALCS by playing Game 1 at Minute Maid Park and finishing off those Yanks in Houston.

Could the Astros catch the MLB-best Los Angeles Dodgers this year? It’s unlikely. But with playoff seeding and home field for the Fall Classic still up for grabs — the Astros only trail the New York Mets by a half game; what if the Mets beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series? — every game really does matter in another World Series-or-bust year.

3.) Baker’s future with the Astros is uncertain. Click’s could be, too. Wrap the two together, remember that the Astros fell painfully short in the 2019 and 2021 World Series, and everything feels like it’s on the line this year.

More hope and optimism when the victories stack up and the Astros pass the Yankees in the standings. More pressure and frustration when the wrong pitcher is called from the bullpen and the bottom of the eighth suddenly falls apart.

Justin Verlander is on track for another Cy Young. But this could be his final year in local orange and blue.

Carlos Correa, George Springer, Gerrit Cole, A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow have already left the Astros.

Baker is 199-140 with back-to-back ALCS appearances while calling the dugout shots for Houston’s MLB team. But he’s on another one-year deal and is technically a lame-duck walking, again.

Click has been a solid GM in a challenging situation, but he hasn’t blown you away like Luhnow did.

These Astros are good enough to win it all again. But they’re not loaded with aces like they were in 2019 and the lineup isn’t as explosive as it was in ’17.

Are we near the end of the best era in Astros history? Is this the middle of annual contention? Heck, what if this run stretches into the end of this decade and 2022 eventually feels like a fun, smooth and joyous year when Jeremy Peña debuted and Framber Valdez took a huge step forward?

I get a kick out of the lineup overreactions.

Talk radio is more fun the day after a late-game meltdown.

We could be stuck dealing with the Rangers or Oakland or Detroit or Pittsburgh. Thankfully, we live in Houston.

A decade after it felt like no one cared about the Astros, the easiest way to start a new conversation is asking someone wearing an Astros hat why Baker keeps playing Dubón.

Dubón was an asset Tuesday, going 3-for-4 with a double. But the Astros blew another late-game lead in Chicago and fell 4-3 to the White Sox.

Every game, decision and lineup matter.

That’s a bad thing? We care too much? Shut up and let Baker do his thing?

No way. This is exactly how it’s supposed to be. This is a real-life drama the Astros have created. And one day we’ll miss the good ol’ days, when Dubón and Montero replaced Mancini as the latest weekly controversy.