Talk long enough to any big-league player, and you’re likely to dig up at least one story that prompts a sentence that goes something like this: “If that hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t be in the big leagues.”



For Ronald Guzmán, it was the off-season he spent living with Nomar Mazara in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, when the two were 20 years old.



But even the most pivotal moments don’t exist as monoliths. In this case, there were at least five factors that led to that offseason’s living arrangements. Family, Friendship, Finances, Fate, and Faith.



FAMILY



While nine-year-old Edward Guzmán practiced with his baseball team, his dad Manuel was also holding a practice of his own, keeping Edward’s energetic four-year-old brother Ronald occupied the best way he knew how.



“My dad used to take me to the back,” Ronald Guzmán...