Of this there can be little or no doubt: The managers of the White Sox and Cubs have come to a crossroads on their career paths in Chicago.

Their teams are veering in opposite directions. Ozzie Guillen’s king-of-the-world White Sox have the second-best record in baseball. Dusty Baker’s down-and-out Cubs had the third-worst record, superior only to the Pirates and Royals.

Yet once again Guillen finds himself in the midst of utter turmoil, whereas Baker, by all outward appearances, seems utterly serene.

Some mornings I wake up and think Guillen is going to be the one who gets fired or quits first.

When you see the White Sox win a game 20-6, you expect everything in their world to be hunky-dory. Instead, not only does Guillen get kicked out of the game, he also gets himself in hotter water by calling a fellow a foul name.

“I wasn’t talking about those people,” Guillen said by way of explanation Wednesday, as if to justify why he felt it was OK to use a cruel word.

Baker, meantime, bites his tongue as well as his toothpick. Somehow this manager manages to show restraint. I don’t know how.

The latest bad news – that Kerry Wood’s career as a Cub could be done – feels like one more nail in Baker’s dugout coffin.

His team has played poorly. His pitching is inadequate. His best hitter is about to return after a long absence, but it could be too late. Already the buzzards are circling.

The point of no return of Baker’s contract is pretty much out there for all to see, like an expiration date on a quart of milk. Any chance to have it extended during the promise of springtime was nothing but the longest of long shots as of Wednesday, the first day of summer.

Wood is in much the same boat. Is there any way the Cubs dare pay him $13.5 million for 2007 when they can buy him out for $3 million? No, no way. Do they safeguard years of investment by inviting him to stay at a reduced rate? Well, could be.

There is certainly a strong chance Dusty and Woody, a couple of once very popular dudes with names that feel right out of “Toy Story,” won’t wear a Chicago uniform beyond this year.

You would think Guillen, on the other hand, would have a job security like that of a Supreme Court justice.

If you count all of 2005’s games, including those in the playoffs and World Series, plus all of 2006’s, including Wednesday night’s 13-5 shellacking of the St. Louis Cardinals, this manager has been victorious 156 times in a season and a half. That is an astounding rate of success.

But this loosest of loose cannons has to be more careful when shooting off his mouth, more circumspect, or he is going to talk his way out of a job.

Being vulgar isn’t a crime. It is a sin, but Major League Baseball doesn’t ban a man for profanity. Were that the case, Leo Durocher wouldn’t have lasted a week. The way Tommy Lasorda went off sometimes, the tape in my tape recorder began to melt.

Baker is on borrowed time, if you ask me. He might make it to October, but he won’t make it to November.

As for Guillen, right now I’m giving odds on July.