A hitting coach in the majors since 2007, Long has been with three teams and all have reached the World Series at some point early in his tenure as a coach.
In 2009, he was part of the Yankees' championship team, and in 2015, his first as hitting coach for the Mets, he returned as National League champs. This season, his second in Washington, the Nationals didn’t have Bryce Harper and still scored the second-most runs in the NL, had the second-highest OPS and tagged Houston for seven runs Tuesday to force Wednesday’s decisive Game 7.
Fourteen years ago, a late-blooming outfielder reached the majors with the Cardinals who had Long to thank for rethinking his swing.