The Royals won a championship in 2015, crediting their cohesive clubhouse, and their ability to trust each other. Many pointed to the leadership given in previous seasons by Jeff Francoeur, James Shields, and Raul Ibanez as integral to giving the younger players confidence and the ability to learn how to win.
The idea of clubhouse chemistry has been derided by the analytics community, which Royals pitcher Danny Duffy seemed to take issue with on Twitter this week.
The extreme side of the analytics community has some mindblowing views on the game. Comradery is huge in baseball, & its impossible to quantify playing while being in a good mindset.