Stats

Don't worry about your individual numbers. Worry about the team. If the team is successful, each of you will be successful, too. – Branch Rickey

Any guesses as who had the highest batting average this past year? Home runs or RBI? Who topped in wins, ERA, or strikeouts. Well the answers are below, but my question is who cares? Stats celebrate the individual. Okay, granted they can show strength and weakness, but stats fundamentally are fundamentally about did I get enough home runs to deserve a contract extension for more money? Did I improve my trade value so it will be easier or harder for me to go from my current assignment? We all love the home run or the perfect game, but fundamentally do they matter?

All the stat leaders listed below for the categories above don’t matter. Yes, I just said Miguel Cabrera’s .348 batting average doesn’t matter any more than Chris Davis’ 53 bombs or 138 RBI. Clayton Kershaw was ridiculous this year and I tried to catch at many of his games as I could on TV. His ERA of 1.83 showed his dominance of hitters across baseball and Yu Darvish was filthy with 277 strike outs, though he did get to face Houston a ridiculous number of times. Still…doesn’t matter.

Moneyball, but if you don’t win the last game of the year, it doesn’t matter. I have the same message, even for little guys learning the game and playing at a competitive level. It doesn’t matter if YOU record a strike out or not, did your team win?  It doesn’t matter if YOU get a home run, how did the team do?
I just laid out why they do I guess; we celebrate that success, but in none of those cases did the individual stat leader’s team win the ring. I hate to agree with Billy Beane from the movie

The same issue comes up in business and even EMS where I see people willing to cut their “team mates” neck – almost literally – to protect their own paycheck. And they do so at the expense of the team, their character being exposed, and usually whatever rah rah they claim to have for their organization. I remember a teacher way back in the day who remarked she would be out the next several days and she knew that we would comport ourselves with the substitute like we would if she were there. It says a lot to see how a team reacts when the boss isn’t there and something shows up to challenge you.

Do you run to your own stats or do you support the team and keep it going towards the World Series? Play safe and play nice in your sandbox. Your stats might get you noticed by a scout, but your me first attitude gets you noticed by your team mates too and there might come a time when you need us too. You might find one day that the stat that matters is not how many IVs you have accomplished or runs completed, but who is your team and who wants you on their team.