An Allegorical Meaning To A World Series Win

The Milwaukee Brewers, by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in the recent World Series, have defied not only the oddsmakers but the whole narrative of what works in major league baseball these days. What this team did and how they did it contains a message for every American.

Many years ago, the right-leaning commentator George Will wrote a tome to the excellence of major league ballplayers entitled Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. In it, Will extolled the extraordinary talents of modern ballplayers who have the skills to play the game at its highest level. He waxed enthusiastically about how much work a great player must do to attain the high level of performance expected of him. Although some players are naturally gifted more so than others, there is something to be said for a player whose work ethic includes work on the small details that can add up to greatness. 

As an example, Willie Mays, one of the all-time greats ever to play the game, was considered a “five-tool” player in his prime, for his abilities to: 1) hit for a high batting average; 2) hit with power; 3) steal bases and create scoring opportunities on the basepaths; 4) play great defense (his over the shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series was possibly the greatest Series play ever); and 5) possess a powerful and accurate throwing arm. However, only a select few players have all of these tools in their box; the remainder must hone the skills they do have to their fullest potential to achieve the ultimate success the game offers.

In the current era where the home run is extolled as the ultimate accomplishment, and teams often base entire strategies on getting as many home run “boppers” in their lineups as possible, the new champion Brewers have gone in a markedly different direction. They count on players who have the discipline to make pitchers work extra hard to get them out versus power hitters who strike out often, and rely on stringing hits and walks together with smart base running to score the runs they need to win. Home runs are fine with the Brewers, but they are not top priority in their scoring strategies.

In the third game of the recent World Series, Milwaukee appeared to have made the last out of an inning on a force play at second base, with no runs scored. However, the Brewers’ baserunner, veteran Christian Yelich, signaled to his manager to appeal the out call, and replays showed that he indeed was safe. With new life in the inning, the Brewers strung six hits in a row together to score eight additional runs and essentially put the game away. Afterward, Yelich explained that he spends a lot of time on baserunning drills to perfect getting a good jump to the next base as he did in this situation, and that attention to detail is what led to Milwaukee’s dominant win.

The strategy used by the Brewers has an underlying assumption of players’ buy-in to play unselfishly and, in so doing, increase their chances of winning. This attitude flies in the face of what most teams face these days, with players looking out for themselves and their ever-increasing salaries. Since the advent of free agency in professional sports, annual salaries have skyrocketed into the multimillions, justified by “what the market will bear.” As a result, team loyalty is largely a thing of the past.

Of course, home run hitters and pitchers who strike out lots of hitters tend to bag the biggest contracts. Milwaukee, as a small market team, has one of the smallest total payrolls in the major leagues. It’s rather ironic that two of the top-salaried teams, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, were at home watching the World Series while Milwaukee battled Tampa Bay, another small market team with a relatively small payroll.

As our country struggles with lots of negative self-image issues, it’s important to remember that it’s been the little details, done well and multiplied over many situations and decades, which have gotten our nation to the pinnacle of freedom and prosperity that, despite recent problems, remains the envy of the world. 

The over-the-top glitzy and false glamour of politicians (mostly Democrats) appealing to pie-in-the-sky wishful, emotion-based thinking instead of solutions that require sacrifices and hard work, has led to uncertainty about our place and purpose in an increasingly dangerous world. That needs to be replaced by politicians with the guts to level with the public about what needs to be done to turn the ship of state back in the right direction.