I held this one for last because it seems to me that it’s overrated when compared to all the other things discussed beforehand. And while it’s true that managers push buttons, it’s the players who execute the decision.
It may sound oversimplified, but any player wearing a major league uniform should be able to do anything his manager asks him to do. So when a manager calls on Player A instead of Player B, it’s incumbent on Player A to get the job done. Even if Player B usually does that job, or if he can do the job better.
To use another example, if a manager decides not to bunt in a tie ballgame with a runner on second and no one out, the batter is still expected to move the runner over to third in the course of making an out.
In other words, the players play the game. And they are the ones who win or lose a game as well. The point is so obvious that sometimes it seems to get lost.
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Second-guessing the manager has always been part of the game, too. But that’s just it – it’s always after the fact and not in the heat of the moment.
A computer could make all the decisions, too, but the computer cannot go onto the field to execute the play. It’s the same thing with managers.