can one great player on a major league baseball team carry a bunch of average players on his back?

Question

who? when? why or why not?

jordan made the bulls the best... gretzky the oilers... but how about baseball?

Answer 1

No, he might lift the team somewhat making the rest of them play a little better, but one person cannot make a team great.

Also, Jordan is probably the greatest player the game of basketball has seen up to this point, but he needed Scottie Pippen, who was an excellent player, to draw some heat off of him. He also needed John Paxson, one of the best three-point shooters in history to do the same. Oh, and with Horace Grant down low, there was always someone to feed him an offensive rebound. Gretzky is the greatest hockey player in the game so far, however, without the excellent support of players like Mark Messier in Edmonton, the Oilers would have been an excellent squad but not championship material.

Answer 2

No

Jordan may have made the Bulls but he also had above average players on his team (Pippen, Rodman, Grant) Gretzky was just a God in hockey so he's an exception.

You need more than one good player on any team, especially baseball. If you have a great pitcher, you still need hitters. If you have a great hitter, you still need hitters for when the great hitter gets walked 5 times a game (aka Bonds). If you have a great fielder, you still need pitching and hitting. Unless you are a great pitcher and a great hitter and you play in the national league...but even then, you'll only win 1 out of every 5 games.

Answer 3

No, it doesn't happen that way.

A hitter can't support a full lineup, if he has no protection, and no one to drive in. There were studies of what happened when Bonds in his prime, surrounded by replacement value players played a few seasons. The results weren't good.

Defensively, one guy can cover the slack for a few extra positions, but at best, you can carry an outfield, not the entire field.

And, as a pitcher, you only play every fifth day, or less than an inning a game. Even if you win 25 games, there are 130 starts you have no control over.

In baseball, it can't be done. You need a well balanced team. You can dump a position or two, but one man does not a contender make.

Answer 4

I don't know if ONE man can, but maybe 2 or 3. For example: Minnesota Twins[present]. It's a 3 man show, Santana, Mauer, and Morneau. This trio holds the team together.
Can One man..... I guess it's possible, but I know of more teams with 2 or 3 hot shots. Plus, you'd need a LOT of talent to carry a whole team on your back. Baseball is different. There's offense and defense. And with only one great player, it's rare he'll carry the whole entire team at bat and in the field.
That's what I think.
I hope I answered your question!

Answer 5

There has been many players carry the team on its back so to say,but usually those teams dont go far with just 1 or 2 star players baseball is the ultimate team game it takes 9 players to play

Answer 6

Yes, but he's has to be extremely dominant, and that type of dominance only comes around 1-2 years in a player's career, and that type of dominant player only comes around once every decade or so. If one player is going to carry the team, then he must be able to generate a lot of runs, enough to be responsible for many wins, or if a pitcher is to carry a team on his back, then he needs to make many starts, and be so dominant that his team only needs to score 2-3 runs each time out to win. Here are some great players that carried their team and was responsible for around 1/3 of their team's victories: Bob Gibson in 1968, Steve Carlton, Rickey Henderson when he was young, Barry Bonds 1998-2001 (steroids), Eric Gagne in his perfect 55 save season. There's more, though.

Answer 7

Baseball's more team oriented than many of other sports. 1 man can't dominate, for example if you're an amazing player, you can only field 1 position in the entire playing field, and you can only hit that many homeruns if the rest of the players get outs. if you're a pitcher there's only so many strikeouts you can get and you can only pitches once every three to five days, so no way one can dominate.

classic example: A Rod with the Rangers a few years ago

Answer 8

I don't think one player could carry a team, which is why baseball is so great. It takes a whole team to put wins together. Look at all the great players that have played for crappy teams and they went nowhere.

Answer 9

Though the inclination is to say nay, I believe one great player on each side of the ball could "carry" an average team...The key word is average, not poor...

One superquality bat & HOF pitcher could make an otherwise average team decent...

Then again, Roberto Clemente was the only 1970 Pittsburgh Pirate who was "above average," and they got to the NL championship...

Answer 10

yes it has been done example the Twins in the mid ninetys the world series years Kirby Puckett had played defense and had some big AB's he carried a average team