Coaches/managers on the losing end of mismatches don’t understand what they need to do to give their teams a chance. These coaches hope that if their teams play hard and don’t make mistakes, they will have a chance to upset the favored team. I’m referring to situations where there is truly a large discrepancy in ability, and will give a football and baseball example.
NFL: Let’s say the Dolphins (0-12) are playing the Patriots (12-0). The Dolphins will play their normal game, and will probably lose by 30 or more points. The fact of the matter is the Dolphins don’t match up with the Patriots in any way, and their coach, instead of hoping for the less-than-1% chance of an upset, should go into the game with a gameplan of trick plays. They should lateral, do option passes, and whatever other trick plays they can come up with. If the trick plays fail, they might lose by 40 instead of 30. No difference. However, the trick plays give them a better chance to win the game, even if it’s not a great chance. These are unexpected plays that keep the opponent guessing, and give you a chance to score through the element of surprise. There is no way the Dolphins win by playing their regular game. This is the only strategy that gives them a chance, but coaches don’t realize this. Coaches also think it’s an insult to their team to have to resort to these tactics, so they would rather lose by 30 or more than do whatever it takes to try to win. They think it makes them look desperate, but the reality is, it is a desperate situation.
Baseball: Josh Beckett is almost unhittable in the playoffs. He gives up no runs or 1 run every playoff game he pitches. Teams continue to go up to bat the way they normally would, and he shuts them down. A baseball manager has to tell his team they have 1 or 2 innings to try to hit him. If he has his great stuff, then the manager has to tell his team to now go up and guess at pitches. If the batters always guess wrong, they’ll get shut out, but they’ll get shut out anyway. However, if they guess right on some pitches, they will hit him. Or, if you don’t like the guessing strategy, have your batters go up to bat and slap at the ball, rather than taking their normal swings. When someone is unhittable, you can either do what you’re doing and get shut out, or do something different and give yourself a chance. Managers and hitting coaches don’t realize this.