Faith and Baseball

Last night the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in game 5 of the American League Division Series to advance to the next round of Major League Baseball's playoffs. The Rangers have been through a lot this year. Prior to the season their coach, Ron Washington, failed a drug test and admitted to having used cocaine. He retained his job, but not without much public scrutiny. During the regular season the team's owner, Tom Hicks, had to file for bankruptcy because of a series of bad financial decisions. That led to a hearing to determine what would be done about the ownership. It was determined that an auction would be held in which the highest bidder would own the team. That set off a bidding war between team president and former Ranger great Nolan Ryan and Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban for the ownership rights. Nolan Ryan and business partner Chuck Greenberg eventually won but not before many lawsuit threats and much courtroom drama. The whole scene was prime for a cheesy made for TV movie. Amidst all this the Rangers kept playing baseball, and played well.

That brings us to today, the day after the Rangers become the last MLB team to win a postseason series despite being in existence for almost 50 years (they had previously won just one playoff game all-time). I was listening to a local sports radio show this morning and the hosts were fielding phone calls from fans about the Rangers' success. A lady called in and said that she had been close to the team, been around and talked to players and coaches on multiple occasions. She didn't say in what capacity she had this privilege, but her comments that followed caught my ear. She said something to the effect of, "you can talk about baseball all you want, but I want to talk about faith.....many players on this team have faith in God.....and God is with this team.....there is a higher power at work here.....He will get them to the World Series...." I admired her courage to bring that up on live broadcast radio and it made me wonder, "does God affect the outcome of baseball games?"

On one hand, baseball is just a game. It's a sport that was designed for recreational enjoyment and as my wife pointed out last night, the men that play it professionally seem like little boys out there. With all the significant events that are going on in the world and in people's lives, does God really care who wins a baseball game? On the other hand, this game is a profession to some people. It's their career, their livelihood, their identity, their life. Winning or losing can influence and sometimes determine the fate of players, coaches, managers, trainers, and many others involved in baseball. As believers, don't we believe that our own life path was given to us by God? So why wouldn't the life of someone who's involved in baseball, who is defined by the outcome of games, be influenced as much by God? Then again, there will always be a winner and loser at the end of a baseball game, how would God decide who it is?

I don't know that there is a clear cut answer for these questions, but as a believer I know that we're not defined by earthly victories and losses. Whether we are experiencing success or failure, prosperity or destitution, winning the game or losing the game, we need to praise God. And that whatever happens to us on this Earth, our real reward lies in being with Him in heaven.