Every MLB team has the ability to win it all
Many players who were expected to be big stars for one reason or another failed to live up to the expectations of scouts and general managers, and on the other hand there are players who completely surprised everyone with their success. How many times have teams heading into spring training picked by the pundits to finish near the bottom only to have what was called an incredibly amazing season finish near or at the top?
You and I could list them here, but in this brief look, I’m going to focus on what more and more people are finding out about, and those are the other elements that affect results. The success of an organization does not primarily depend on the quality of its players’ skills. The world’s most talented and physically skilled players are playing professionally, and while on paper there are differences between them, it’s not these statistics that determine which team will win on any given day.
In fact, very few ‘what ifs’ during a game could have changed the score at the final out of the game. I mean, for a multi-billion dollar organization to say a team is on a roll or down and leave it at that is pretty oblique. To me, that would be like the chairman of the board whose bank was just robbed saying we were unlucky and then doing nothing to investigate the glitch that allowed it to happen.
Am I saying that all teams aren’t looking for the advantage that will find them playing for the championship? No, of course there are, in fact every team has a feeling this could be the year for them, even the teams that finished at or near the bottom of the standings last year. In fact, the fact is that there are no professional teams that cannot make it to the playoffs. Whoa you say, I surely don’t believe that. This is precisely the case, every major league baseball team has what it takes to win enough games to make the playoffs. That some do not get a position has nothing to do with the skill potential of their players and coaching staff.
How many times have you heard that some teams have great camaraderie and team spirit and focus, for example? If these rank as reasons why young teams found their place in the playoffs, then someone at least thinks it’s more than skills. Either this or that team player has found his potential as a baseball player.
Can you tell me which teams don’t have what it takes to play in the World Series? Is the coaching staff of that team capable or are they in over their heads? You are welcome. Are there players on that team who don’t have the talent to hit in the big leagues? Aren’t they so skilled in the field? And their pitchers can’t take out even the best hitters?
The more a team clings to the idea that it can’t make the playoffs, the harder it is to produce the kind of results needed to get there. Fans unknowingly support these declining ideas for their teams, as they are influenced by the various curses inflicted on certain teams as the reason for their failures as the regular season comes to a close.
The truth is that there are no external forces that prevent an organization from winning a World Championship. Players don’t win championships, organizations do. The skill level of the coaches and players is so minuscule as to provide only one excuse for an organization’s inability to produce a winning team.
Well, what is the organization made up of? The management, the players, the coaches support the staff, including sponsors and the media, and even the hot dog vendor. And, of course, the source organism, the fans of baseball itself. Without fans there is no MLB.
The most fascinating sport in the world as far as I am concerned, baseball at the major league level, is perfection, from the beautifully manicured fields to the echo of that sweet sound of a ball on a wooden bat, to the hundreds of variations and possibilities to its integrity as a game. Baseball can teach a youngster everything he needs to know to live a successful life, although in doing so he is only scratching the surface. Although I have a little difficulty in how MLB treats the sanctity of this truly American pastime, I believe that the fans will always protect the integrity of the game. But that is another topic.
There are hundreds of actions that an organization can take to cause a sort of reversal of its great ship towards a more desirable outcome, and these actions affect many. Who are these people? Well, first of all, of course, there are the fans, and a fan could be considered anyone who follows the team with an interest in the success of their teams. Within that are the administrative staff, the players, the media, the sponsors and even their critics, their community of origin and the businesses in which each franchise operates.
The success of a season experienced by the team has more to do with the happiness and joy experienced throughout the organization than any other factor. In a way that should be quite logical. If the whole family says they had a really fun season, they probably did very well. Management is the source of joy in the company and how they manage the existence of that kind of winning environment has the ultimate impact.
The boys and girls playing youth baseball today will be watching professional baseball in their later years, as it’s quite likely that MLB will be around 100 years from now.