The Yankees Sputter while the Red Sox Dominate

With the New York Yankees facing the Boston Red Sox for the first time this 2009 season all us diehard baseball fans are getting an up close look at two powerful teams going in opposite directions. The Boston Red Sox stayed firm over the off-season and held true to their team chemistry while the Yankees went out and spent big. In these times of economic uncertainty the New York Yankees flexed their financial muscle and signed many superstars to massive contracts. CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Texeira were all signed to lucrative deals with the Yankees forking out hundreds of millions of dollars. Was this anything new from the team? Absolutely not. Have major signings like this helped them in the past? Well, yes and no.

The Boston Red Sox have taken the first two games of the series between these two teams 5 to 4 and 16 to 11 respectively. So what is the difference between these two teams? Why are they heading in such opposite directions? The Red Sox have won 9 straight games and the Yankees are falling into the brink of irrelevance in the bottom of the AL East. It can all be summed up in one word, chemistry. Look back on past World Series winners, every team has a fair mix of superstars, middle of the league players and role players. Teams need an identity to make a push to the top of the league. The New York brass have neglected the thought of building a team and have simply packed their roster with all star studs that are used to leading their team. There is no parity throughout the lineup and no space in the locker room for all these mega ego-centric stars to coincide.

The Boston Red Sox have stuck with their identity, building around great locker room characters like Jason Varitek and role-players like Kevin Youkilis, among others. In order to be an elite baseball you need to have team chemistry and an identity. Money cannot buy championships is the saying that is no ringing more clearly than ever. Possibly the worst part for the Yankees is that every fan, team and player outside of New York is steadily cheering for their demise.