Baseball’s Winning Enigma

What do you view as the winning formula for success a professional athletic team?

“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is. It’s the opportunity to play.” (Mike Singletary) 

I am a lucky man today as the team I’ve so loyally supported for over five decades, the cost minded Cleveland Guardians, overcame a a massive deficit of 15.5 games in August to win the American League Central division in dramatic fashion yesterday. Keep in mind the magnitude of this comeback of such a large numerical proportion, which had never been accomplished in the centuries long history of Major League baseball before. Astonishingly as well, the Guardians starting lineup  during this winning streak included a minimum of five rookie players called up recently from their minor league, affiliate Columbus Clippers. To further clarify the magnitude of this accomplishment, I would challenge any knowledgeable baseball fan to tell me anything they know about such relatively anonymous players on this special Guardians team such as Pete Halpin, C.J. Kaufus, Jonathan Rodriguez, and George Valera. Kudos to these players then that upon being given their first taste of major league action, they worked  efficiently together during the “stretch run” of pressure packed pennant competition.

Yesterday in contrast, I watched the superstar heavy lineup of the New York Mets humbly lose 4-0 to a similarly low budget team, the Miami Marlins, which eliminated them from upcoming playoff action. Note in this regard that Mets batters struck out eleven times and left ten runners stranded on base during this lackluster effort that day. I could not fathom logically as a result why a good number of attending Mets fans close by my seat danced in the bleachers, took camera selfies and noticeably  “high- fived ” each other in spite of the substandard performance of their team that day. I also wondered at that time how many hard core” Mets fans attending that afternoon had pondered whether all the money the Mets spent on Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz…this year was  truly worth it!

Regardless of whether or not there’s a positive fairy tale ending for this “ Little Team That Could”, one might question what best produces a winning formula for finding success through our life choices. For is it all about what’s in it for oneself? Go Guardians!