The Elusive Team Chemistry on August 25, 2011, the Boston Gomes? Mike Carp? Ryan Dempster? Chemistry

Home , Ben Cherington, Boston Red Sox, David Ross (baseball), John Farrell (manager), Koji Uehara, Mike Carp

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The Elusive Team Chemistry On August 25, 2011, the Boston Gomes? Mike Carp? Ryan Dempster? chemistry. As the 2013 season began, Red Sox had won 80 games and lost David Ross? Fans couldn’t even pro- Boston’s most read sports columnist, only 50. If the team could maintain nounce Koji Uehara. None were su- Dan Shaughnessy, argued that that winning percentage of .615, it perstars. They were “character guys.” “chemistry in a baseball clubhouse is would finish the season with 100 Being a good club-house guy was way overrated.” wins and make the playoffs. not, however, the number one crite- Yet if chemistry is overrated, talent Instead the Red Sox collapsed, rion. Talent was. The new players had is overrated too. If only talent count- losing 22 of its last 32 games. The to be able to play major-league base- ed, the 2012 Red Sox would never team’s three top pitchers, it was later ball. But, they also had to be able to have finished in last place. reported, spent most games not in the play in a major-league city. Still, what is this team chemistry? dugout but in the clubhouse eating In Boston, the Bruins, the Celtics, How does it work? And, even more take-out chicken and drinking beer. the Patriots, and the Red Sox are importantly, how do you create it? Terry Francona, the manager with serious business—everybody’s busi- After all, the Sabermetricians have whom the team had won the 2004 ness. When a hitter takes a called yet to develop a formula to measure and 2007 World Series, was fired. third strike in the bottom of the it, although Michael Schrage of MIT In 2012, the Boston Red Sox were ninth, the citizens of Red Sox Nation writes that “quantifying chemistry” worse. They won 69 games, but lost will offer advice—very personal, very has become “the new Holy Grail of 93—for a winning percentage of .426. public advice. sports analytics.” The team hadn’t had such a poor When John Henry, who then But are these data wonks seeking record since 1960, when they won owned the Florida Marlins, bought to measure a team’s “teamness” or only .422 of their games. That was the Boston Red Sox, he discovered how one player improves the perform- before any of today’s baseball players that people recognized him on the ance of the others? Then, once a team were even born. street. That never happened in Miami. has such data, how do they use it to In 2013, however, the Red Sox won Boston is different. In Miami, no achieve their objectives? the World Series. “Worst to First” goes one cares. In Boston, everyone cares. Five years ago, Michael Lewis, the the cliché. author of Moneyball about the use of What factor made the difference? data in baseball, wrote an article Or, to be precise, what factors made If team chemistry is overrated, about “The No-Stats All-Star.” That the difference? After all, there is never talent is overrated too. If only would be Shane Battier, who in 13 a single cause. And, there were many. talent counted, the 2012 Red Sox years and nearly 1,000 games for four Quickly, Boston fired its manager, would never have finished in last NBA teams has averaged 8.6 points the incendiary Bobby Valentine. His place. Still, what is this team per game. What player lasts 13 years “managerial style,” wrote one blogger, chemistry? How does it work? while averaging less than 10 points? was “obnoxious pomposity.” The Sox And even more importantly, how Lewis explains: “Battier’s game is a replaced him with the ever calm, does a team create it? weird combination of obvious weak- always positive John Farrell. nesses and nearly invisible strengths. Actually, during the 2012 season, When he is on the court, his team- the Sox had already made big Thus, the Red Sox sought to com- mates get better, often a lot better, changes. Boston traded three of its bine team talent with “team chem- and his opponents get worse—often a big-salary stars whom it had acquired istry.” “It has to start with talent,” lot worse.” precisely because of their excellent said Ben Cherington, the team’s gen- Shane Battier is the ultimate team statistics but who never got what Yogi eral manager. But he was also “trying player. He creates the elusive team Berra called “the team thing.” to get as many guys on the team that chemistry. Yet, no team or player has In Boston, this was not unusual. would embrace playing in Boston.” figured out how to replicate him. d The 1989 Sox were known as “25 And they did—individually and guys and 25 cabs.” Steven Renko, a collectively. They grew beards, and Robert D. Behn, a lecturer at Harvard pitcher, explained: “Some teams go their motto became “Fear the Beards.” University's John F. Kennedy School everywhere together. We get off the And after the bombing at the finish of Government, chairs the executive- plane and go to 25 separate cabs.” line of the Boston Marathon, the team education program “Driving Govern- Thus, on opening day in 2013, few became one of the symbols of “Boston ment Performance: Leadership Strate- fans in Boston knew the new players. Strong”—from the first game after the gies that Produce Results.” His book, They were familiar with Mike Napoli city’s lockdown to the victory parade. The PerformanceStat Potential, will be and Shane Victorino. But Jonny Yet, not everyone believes in team published by Brookings in June.

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