Teammate Chain

Link the two players through teammates. Shorter is better.

How to play Teammate Chain

You get a start player and an end player.
Add anyone who was a teammate of the player on either open end of the chain. The chain grows from both ends until they meet.
Three players who don't connect and you're out, and the chain can hold at most 10 players between the ends. Connect the two to win, in as few links as you can.

Tips

Think in team-seasons, not players. Every link is one roster in one year, so ask which teams a player was on, and when. Tap a player card to see their team history.
To cross decades, look for a veteran in his last seasons who played with a rookie in his first. One such pairing can carry the chain fifteen or twenty years.
The best middle links are journeymen, the relievers, backups and defensemen who changed teams every year or two, because each move put them on a new roster.
Build from whichever end you know better, and don't spend strikes on hunches. A sure link that adds a step is better than a gamble that might save one.

Worked example: Jason Heyward to Gary Sánchez

A real pre-launch baseball pair: connect Jason Heyward to Gary Sánchez. The shortest chain is two links.

List the clubs and the years. Heyward: Braves 2010-14, Cardinals 2015, Cubs 2016-22, then the Dodgers, Astros and Padres. Sánchez: Yankees 2015-21, then five more clubs, a year or two at each. They never shared a roster (both were Padres, but in different years), so you need someone in between.

Look for a player who touches both. The Yankees 2015-21 are Sánchez’s long stint, so look for anyone who went from Heyward’s clubs to the Bronx in those years:

Brian McCann caught Heyward in Atlanta (2010-13), then signed with the Yankees and was Sánchez’s teammate in 2015 and 2016.
Anthony Rizzo played with Heyward on the Cubs (2016-21) and was traded to the Yankees in 2021, Sánchez’s last year there.
Aroldis Chapman pitched for the Cubs beside Heyward in 2016, then for the Yankees with Sánchez from 2017 to 2021.

Any of the three makes Heyward → one teammate → Sánchez, the shortest chain possible for this pair.

Questions

What’s the best strategy for Teammate Chain?: Think in team-seasons, not players. How to find the rookie-and-veteran bridges, use journeymen as hubs, and connect any two players in as few links as possible.
Read the full strategy guide
What counts as teammates?: Two players who were on the same club in the same regular season. In soccer, that means the same club in the same season in one of Europe's top five leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1), so national-team teammates and clubs outside those leagues don't connect.
Which sports can I play?: Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, each with its own daily pair.
What's a good score?: Every daily pair has a known shortest chain. Matching it is a perfect game, but any chain that connects is a win.
Can every chain be solved with one teammate link?: No. Not every pair can be connected through a single shared teammate. Some pairs never had a teammate in common, so the shortest possible chain needs two or more links in the middle.
When does a new puzzle come out?: Every day at midnight Pacific time. Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle, so you can compare results with friends.
Can I play past puzzles?: Yes. Every past day is in the archive. Sign in with a free account to play the last 7 days, or go Premium for every past puzzle. Archive games don't count toward your streak or the daily leaderboard. Replay a day as often as you like: the archive keeps your best score.

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