Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington talk chemistry at charity event | redsox.com: News

Can’t we all just get along?

“When you’re trying to define what clubhouse culture is, it’s really difficult to do, but it’s really how 25 men come together for a common cause and hopefully if it’s done right, the whole exceeds the sum of the parts and I think we saw that here for a long time,” Epstein said. “There are different ingredients that are important. I think the manager sets an important tone. The character of the players you select to be in the clubhouse is an important tone. The veteran leadership is fundamental to it.

“We saw the other side of it—towards the end. Where, just as when things come together in just the right mix, the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts, you can have the opposite effect when some of those ingredients aren’t in play.

“There probably wasn’t a month in baseball history that underscored the importance of it more than that [September 2011], unfortunately on the negative side. We probably had a month in October of 2004 which underscored how great it can be when things come together with the right mix.”