Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 30, 2004
Motivation

I'm working at the home office of Baseball Information Solutions, preparing for the new season. I had lunch with Steve Moyer today. Steve is the president of the company and an old friend from my STATS, Inc. days. Steve has been traveling around spring training sites, speaking to clubs, trying to see if there is a way we can help them with their analysis. While he was speaking to a Tampa Bay official, the Japan trip came up in the conversation. This Devil Ray exec said to Steve that Tampa really wanted to win the two game series, because they didn't want to be the Washington Generals.

In other words, Tampa felt it had been set up to lose to the Yankees in Japan. As Steve said, he doesn't put much stock in motivation in baseball. Over a season, there's just too many games. But in a situation like this, it can be a big factor. The Devil Rays didn't want to be the team that lost to the Yankees in Japan. And to their credit, they rose to the occasion.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:34 PM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

so what does that mean about the second game? that they felt they'd proven their point?

or that steinbrenner upped the bribe?

Posted by: beth at March 31, 2004 09:23 AM

It's like being scheduled as the Homecoming game. When you've finished last every year of your existence, you can expect these things to happen.

Posted by: Crank at March 31, 2004 10:01 AM