Consider what makes a championship team?

[lightfoot789]

Consider a  minor league teams top prospect (not a top 10 prospect)  leads his team in hits, home runs, rbi's, and total bases.  Also consider that that same prospect leads his team in having the lowest OBP, and most strike outs.  His walk rate ranks in the middle of the team rankings, despite the low OBP. 

 

One might draw the conclusion that this team was not very good if he in fact led the team in those particular categories.  This team however wins the league championship without a front line (prospect) pitcher in thier starting rotation heading into the playoffs.

 

Why would a team like this win in your opinion? 

 

Consider that this team has posted a .608 winning percentage (208 - 134) over the last 3 seasons and has won in the same manner during that time.

 

What would the Team "make up" have to be (of the remaining players on the team) for this team to continue to win in this manner? 

 

Would your description of the team "make up" be able to win at the MLB level based on your theroy?

[gunnarthor]

When he hit it, Walker hit the ball hard. But he was 6th on the team in OPS among players with 100 PA because he made a lot of outs, too.  He had a lot to do with the team but the Miracle were 2nd in OBP and SLG and OPS while being 4th in ERA.  That's the good team make up.

[lightfoot789]

I agree with the Walker comment and your team make up comment.  I truly wanted to know what others thought of the team make up and if they could win at the MLB level this way.

 

Although second in your above examples (OBP; SLG; OPS; stats), they were also first in Runs, RBI, and BB's.  I think that the Matt Tomshaw's (11 wins); Lee's (10 wins); Tyler Jones (13 saves); Dalton Hicks (run producer); Niko Goodrums (BB's / SB's) bring intangibles that consistently lead to wins.  Fans and bloggers tend to look at what they lack when critiquing "make up" moving forward.  Thinking like this prevents you from truly enjoying the ride. 

 

I tend to believe in winners until they don't win, before I believe in make up.  I'm a Russell Wilson (Seahawks QB / 5'11 & 210 lbs) believer.  "Why Not Us / Why Not Me". 

 

Royals shouldn't have been in the World Series either based on make up.   Tory Hunter would have been 2nd on the Royals in OPS (.765) and 3rd on the Twins.

 

The Twins were terrible offensively in 2013 and everybody was calling for heads and upgrades.  What did the Twins do?  Upgrade their pitching staff and brought in a back up catcher (all star) and some not ready for prime time prospects.  The results were: They were incredible offensively and continued failures with pitching.  Sometimes make up doesn't explain it all.  Sometimes chemistry tells it all.  If minor league results (OBP) are the tell all, then Colabello should have been the second coming.  OBP worked for Vargas and Santana but not Colabello?  Hicks had the 5th best OBP (.341) on the Twins with anyone with at least 150 AB's.  He was "on base" more than most, but was crucified because he had a very poor BA.  HE GOT ON BASE!!!  Intangibles do matter and we have to figure out which ones matter with which prospects.

[Seth Stohs]

Intangibles absolutely matter. Team Chemistry also matters. To what level, there is no way to know.

 

Talent wins. If Adam Walker is your 6th or 7th best player on your roster, you're going to have a pretty strong team. 

 

There is no one perfect way to build a team. You have to have great players, and you have to have competent role players who do what they need to do.