I’m not watching the League Championship Series this week. And I won’t be watching the World Series next week. I’m bitter. I could barely stomach the first round of the playoffs because my team — the St. Louis Cardinals — looked like amateurs in getting swept three games to none by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This seemed like a punch in the stomach to Cardinals fans because the team had the best player in the league (Albert Pujols) and arguably the two best pitchers (Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright). Many pundits expected St. Louis to win it all. But after being the first team to wrap up a playoff berth, the Cardinals went flat and never recovered.
The swift demise felt especially cruel because St. Louis had its best August ever en route to cruising to an 11-game lead. After everything worked so smoothly, fans figured the team would at least be competitive in the postseason.
But everyday life has parallels for those us not making millions a year to hit and chase a ball. Everything seems to be working out in life, then an unexpected crisis hits. We lose a job. A spouse gets gravely ill. A parent dies. Such calamities have the potential to spin our normal routines out of control — or spur us to fervently consider what’s really important.
Baseball is a fun distraction. But it’s not vital to my well-being. I think I’m over the fiasco of the Cardinals for the moment. Maybe I can focus on something better, like relationships and ministry.
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