“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are, you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.” -Tommy Lasorda
Our Atlanta Braves began the season in glorious fashion this past weekend. After breaking camp from spring training, the Braves unceremoniously opened their 2019 campaign 0-3. They were swept by the Fightin’ Phillies of Philadelphia with their high-octane offense and surprisingly good defense. The Braves didn’t make it too difficult for them as they walked 20 batters in their three-game series (yes, you read that correctly). People, that’s a lot of baserunners. And as we know, when you put them on for free, they frequently cross the plate.
It’s a good thing the Major League Baseball season is 162 games.
Here’s the good news, Braves fans: When you consider the number of games that they’ll play over the next 6 months, a three-game series is the equivalent of roughly the first quarter of an NFL game at the beginning of the first game of their 16-game season.
One of the reasons that baseball resonates with me is the parallels that it has with life. The baseball season, like life, is greater than any one particular moment, regardless of whether that moment is spectacular or dismal.
Just as it is true in life, we sometimes strike out. At other times, we drop the ball.
We get injured.
Sometimes, we go 0-26 at the plate and the balls we put in play always find someone’s glove.
We experience long winning streaks where we feel unstoppable, while at other times our stretches of losses feel interminable. We get caught stealing. We miss the tag. Our pitching gives up a 5-run lead in the bottom of the ninth.
We get traded. We win the MVP. We are sent down to AAA. We get DFA-ed, or “Designated for Assignment” (It’s not good, y’all). We get fired.
But just as it is true in life, it rarely stays that way.
We find a way to draw the walk. The call goes our way. The ball bounces over the fence. The grass is cut high and the slow-roller enables you to leg it out to first. The first pitch you see finds the sweet part of the bat and you watch the outfielder turn and watch it fly.
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
He’s right, you know. Tommy Lasorda, the longtime manager for the Dodgers, knew baseball. Everyone will win 54 games (well, except for the 2018 Orioles). Everyone will lose 54 games (well, except for the 2001 Mariners). The question is what you do with the other 54 games.
The other 54 games are toss-ups. They are the games where it can go either way. They are the games that have to be grinded out.
We know these games in life.
They are the moments when we are ‘called on the carpet.’ They are the ones when we experience a sudden loss. They are the ones when the flight gets canceled, and when the teacher doesn’t like you, and when you don’t get that job you were promised. They are the moments where she tells you that she doesn’t loves you, and when your new love admits they favor your sister, and when your retirement dies with the stock market plunge.
You know these moments because they are the ones where circumstances make it reasonable for you to give up.
Colossians 3:23 reads, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Both the game of baseball and the slog of life require grit. A spirit of determination and relentless hope in God’s redemptive power is necessary. We are dependent on God’s grace, yes. But as a team, we have to play ourselves out of slumps. We pick one another up. We challenge, affirm, and celebrate one another. We admonish our teammates to never give up.
Remember those woe begotten Braves? In their fourth game of the season, they would go on to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-0 to open their season in their home park in Atlanta. The Cubs would commit 6 errors.
It’s good to be back in the win-column, though there’s no telling how long we’ll remain there.
The comical baseball player, Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh from the movie, “Bull Durham” says it well: “‘This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball. You hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.’ Think about that for a while.’”