Does Team Chemistry Really Matter?

Does Team Chemistry Really Matter?

            I hear people often say things like “Ya he’s a good player but he’s such a bad teammate.”  Or “He’s such a great presence in the locker room that he just makes us all better.”  While I never doubted games like Basketball, Football, Hockey and even Soccer player’s attitudes can have an effect on the team.  If players are having arguments the team can have issues from time to time, not always since we’ve seen plenty of instances where it doesn’t seem to matter until it becomes a public issue (see the Richie Incognito bullying scandal).  So when I think on this and I apply it to baseball I say, “no I don’t think it has a major impact, not as much as others at least.”  Today I want to at least take a look at this issue and make my case; I’m not trying to convince anyone but to at least say my position.

            Yasiel Puig, do I really need to say more?  I was inspired to reopen this topic when Puig started to cause issues during the season along with all the off-season shenanigans.  I’ll start by saying I do kinda understand why Puig is the way he is but I don’t agree he should act that way, instant fame and a poor background tend to cause that problem.  His attitude issues had always been in the news but it wasn’t till the season officially began when it became enough of an issue to call a team meeting specifically about him and his actions on and off the field.  When I heard about the meeting I started to ask myself if chemistry still doesn’t have an effect on a team, and to me it still doesn’t.

            So why don’t I think it has as much as an effect on a baseball team?  Well simply put baseball never seemed enough of a team sport, yes your still relying on other players to get outs and you need a team to get runs but hear me out.  If a 2B gets the ball and throws it to first for the out the 2B gets an assist, a putout and his fielding percentage doesn’t go down.  Now lets say that the 1B misses the ball, even if the 2B throws right at his chest, allowing the runner to be safe at first, well the fielder doesn’t get an assist or putout but his fielding percentage doesn’t go down since its not an error on him.  The 2B’s stats are slightly affected but the error wasn’t his fault, to me player’s stats are in the player’s hands more than any other sport.  So to me if a player 1 is mad at player 2 it shouldn’t affect player 1’s stats since he’s not relying on player 2.  A player can affect the team overall in W’s and L’s which could affect the team moral but if he’s being such a negative force on the field he’s not playing most likely and his stupid play doesn’t affect the team anymore.

            In the end I’ve always just viewed baseball more of an individual game in the end.  Yes it’s not a full individual sport like golf and bowling but performance wise the game is all up to that one player.  His arguments and beef’s with fellow players shouldn’t really come into play when he’s taking the field or at bat.  Dumb plays can affect the team in ways but it would take more than 1 or 2 plays to really rile up a time (look how long it took Puig to piss off a teammate).  You’re free to disagree but I know I’ve played with some pretty Puig like people in my 15 years of playing baseball and I can say with 100% certainty that it never effected my play.