World Series University: Life Lessons from the MLB

Last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series with a 5-4 extra-innings victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Aside from marvelous play by both teams, the series offers lessons fans might have missed. Take, for example, the prevailing quest for diversity and inclusion.

The Blue Jays roster features players from the United States, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Canada. Heavy-hitting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born in Montreal when his father, a Dominican, played for the Expos. The Dodgers roster includes players from Cuba, Venezuela, Japan, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and South Korea. This diversity does not proceed from any government mandate. It is based on merit alone. 

Not a single player on either team—or in all of baseball—was selected on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, skin shade, or family connections. Nobody plays because some relative owns the team, the stadium, or has connections with a sponsor. The players were all selected for their ability to play baseball, the sport they chose to play.

Major League Baseball has no quota system for players from any national or ethnic group. Fans hear no announcement of a “starting Japanese pitcher,” “Dominican outfielder,” or “player of color.” The diverse teams, based on merit, also showcase economic lessons.

In game four of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Japanese national Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and struck out ten batters. It was as though an NFL quarterback ran for three touchdowns, then moved to cornerback and intercepted ten passes. Or perhaps an NBA guard scored 50 points and blocked 10 shots in a crucial playoff game.

In more than a century of major league baseball, nobody had performed a feat like Ohtani’s, and it wasn’t done on natural ability alone. According to Dodgers’ minority owner Earvin “Magic” Johnson, an NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, Shohei Ohtani is “the hardest worker on the Dodger team and probably in baseball. He cares about his body. He takes care of himself. He’s intense about playing the game the right way.”

That helps explain why Ohtani is the highest-paid player in baseball, with a 10-year $700 million contract. He gets the big bucks because people want to see him pitch, hit, and run. Last year, he became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. In game three of the World Series, Ohtani reached base a record nine times. Consider also Dodger’s pitcher Shigenobu Yamamoto. 

He trains by throwing a javelin, which builds strength and aids his delivery. That training regime helps explain why Yamamoto can throw 96 pitches in game six, then the next day throw 34 more in the game seven victory. That’s why the Dodgers’ ace was named World Series Most Valuable Player. That’s why he signed a 12-year deal for $325,000 million, similar to the 12-year $365 million deal of Mookie Betts.

Formerly of the Boston Red Sox, Betts played right field from 2014 to 2023. The Dodgers moved him to second base and then shortstop, a radical change for an outfielder. Shortstop Betts made the double play to end game seven and close out the series.

Betts, Yamamoto, and Ohtani can do things many others can’t do. People will pay to watch them play, and companies seek their endorsement for products. This is the free market at work, based on proven performance, and not limited to sports.

For liberty and prosperity in the nation and world, a market economy is the only way to go. For true diversity and inclusion, merit is the best policy.