Originally Posted by
BrunswickDawg
Baseball is less about talent than football or basketball. Think about it this way - in the 1980s, the Yankees continually had the best roster that money could buy. Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Ron Guidry, Righetti, Willie Randolph, Rickey Henderson, etc etc. And they couldn't get out of their own way. They were a team on paper. There was no trust. No shared experiences. Culture, hustle, grit, dirt bag mentality - whatever you want to call it - can make you the better team and a team that can roll more talented teams regularly. I'd never believe it if I hadn't seen happen and been on both ends of the equation.
From 2011 thru 2021 we had that. We were like Bain - we'd been born in it, raised in it. You could smell it on us when we walked on the field. We went to CWS final in 2013 with no starting pitching. We got embarrassed by 2015 and went out and beat the shit out of the whole SEC in 2016. And I've never seen anything like Big Hit Mac in 2018. No to mention how many come from behind wins we had in 2021 during the regular season. But, right now, it's like looking at Polks teams after he retired/unretired in '92 - they were just going thru the motions while the coaches were mentally focused elsewhere.