Theo Epstein reveals the secret to World Series

Theo Epstein, man. The guy's awesome. I mean, seriously, when you build a reputation as a literal curse breaker, you deserve all the credit that comes your way.

In any case, Epstein took some time late last week to speak at Yale's "Class Day." His central message was an uplifting one: The power of teamwork. To illustrate his point, he looked back to last year's World Series. It was sticking together, the type of intangible asset that Epstein might've looked over earlier in his career, that he said was they key to it all.

Thanks to The Athletic for transcribing the speech

Early in my career I used to think of players as assets, statistics on a spreadsheet which I could use to project future performance and measure precisely how much they were going to impact our team on the field. I used to think of teams as portfolios, diversified collections of player assets, paid to produce up to their projections to ensure the organization's success.

My head had been down.

That narrow approach worked for awhile, but it certainly had its limits. I grew and my team-building philosophy grew as well. The truth, as our team proved in Cleveland, is that a player's character matters. The heartbeat matters. Fears and aspirations matter. The player's impact on others. matters. The tone he sets, matters. The willingness to connect, matters. Breaking down cliques and overcoming stereotypes, matters. Who you are how you live among others, that all matters.

It continued:

But when these moments happen, and they will, will you be alone at your locker with your head down, lamenting, divvying up blame? Or will you be shoulder to shoulder your teammates, connected, giving and receiving support?

I'll tell them not to wait until the rain comes to make this choice, because that can be too late. We weren't winners that night in Cleveland because we ended up with one more run than the Indians. If Zobrist's ball had been four inches off the line than that double would've been a double play and we would've lost the game. That was randomness. Like much of life, it was arbitrary.

We were winners that night in Cleveland because when things went really, really wrong, and then when the rains came, our players already knew each other so well, they could come together. They already trusted each other so much, they could open up and be vulnerable. And they were already so connected, they could lift one another up. We had already won.

The full video: