Tuesday night in Puerto Rico taught us another lesson, All-Star teams don't win championships, TEAMS win championships. For the second time in less than a week, the Netherlands baseball team defeated the heavily favored Dominican team, and knocked them out of the World Baseball Classic without even advancing to the second round. While watching this transpire, I couldn't help but get caught up in the moment. How improbable! How amazing! How great was this for baseball!

Ever since the idea was first hatched for this event, experts have labeled the Dominican Republic as the favorite to win, yet in the first go-around, they didn't do so, and this time they did even worse. But why? How does a team with All-Stars like Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Robinson Cano, David Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, and Pedro Martinez, to name a few, fall so short of expectations?

As crazy as this might sound, it's pretty easy. Similar to the Yankees of 2005 and 2006, and the Tigers of 2008, when you have a team of All-Stars that people think cannot go into a prolonged slump, that's exactly what happens. Each player, because they are so good individually, thinks they can single-handedly carry the team to victory, and puts added pressure on themselves. This seeps throughout the entire lineup, and before you know it, the team has failed to live up to expectations.

Conversely, when you're a team, like that of the Netherlands (or the Rays last year), you work together as a unit making the sum of the parts greater than the individuals. If you're wondering, this is called chemistry.
This is also the reason why I believe the Yankees will be a better TEAM without A-Rod than with him. People keep saying that you can't replace 40 homeruns and 120 RBI. Well, you may not be able to replace those numbers with just an individual, but if you're playing as a team, there's no doubt that you can.

With A-Rod out of the equation, the team can actually concentrate on playing and not answering questions about performance-enhancing drugs, or what this and that means going forward. They can sit back, relax, and enjoy each other's company. They can come together as a unit, and develop the chemistry they have been so lacking for the last 5-7 years.

With players like Brett Gardner, Cody Ransom, and Nick Swisher, they have guys who will do the dirty work that help teams win. And then you throw in clubhouse guys like CC Sabathia, Swisher, and Johnny Damon, all of a sudden the atmosphere has changed in a big way, and changed for the better.

Now this may all be a moot point for the Yankees because A-Rod is only expected to miss about a month of the season. But if they get off to a good start, it may only make things worse for Rodriguez, as people will begin to realize that they are better as a team than a collection of All-Stars. Something A-Rod's fellow Dominicans just found out.