Just exploring this a little more: by your logic, since baseball is such an indivdual's sport, and the "team concept" means little, can one man carry his team to victory without help from his teammates? Technically no. But a pitcher can get very close. Although, very unlikely, a National League pitcher could strike out all 27 men in a perfect game and hit a solo HR for the only score. The only reason he can't completely carry his team to victory is that he needs a catcher to catch the ball. Ok, but since that happens about once every ice age, would you agree that 99% of the time a pitcher must rely on his teammates to properly catch and throw the ball (including throwing to the correct base, executing run-downs, etc.)? No, defensive variations between the best teams and the worst teams are so little, it is quite different than other sports. The talent differences between a good and a bad team is always which team has the advantage in the pitcher/batter confrontations not one defense vs. another. Of course, the hitter/pitcher battle is a 2 person battle and not a 18 player battle, unlike the 22 in FB or 10 in Basketball.