Lessons from Playoff Baseball

The City of Brotherly Love (not always known for being loving towards its sports teams) shows us something truly remarkable

It was early August, and the Philadelphia Phillies had a real problem. The playoff-bound Phillies thought they had a realistic shot at competing to win the World Series…but that was all falling apart.

You see their all-star shortstop, Trae Turner, was broken.

Turner wasn’t physically injured, but to Philly fans, he might as well have had his right arm fall off.

One year after signing an enormous 11-year, $300mil contract, Turner was having the worst season of his life through 2/3 of the season, and it wasn’t even close.

• He was batting .235 (career low)

• He was sticking out 24.1 percent of the time (career-high)

• A normally stellar defender, he was making errors all over the place.

Instead of batting at the top of the order, he was moved down to 8th in the order, the spot usually reserved for the weakest hitter on the team.

Talk radio, the internet, columnists and fans were frustrated beyond belief. As one local story said, back on August 3:

There is no clear reason behind Turner's struggles, however, there is a realistic chance that the pressure of living up to his massive contract is getting to him

HE’S HAVING A BOOS PROBLEM

After watching Turner struggled for two-thirds of the season, the Philly fans began to shower Turner with boos at every at-bat. But then, local radio producer Jack Fritz then offered a radical solution, as chronicled in a story by the Washington Post.

What if the Philly (Ph)aithful gave Turner….a standing ovation?

“Let me just say this: It can’t hurt, and what if it does work?” said Fritz. “It’s a good moment for the ballpark, a good moment for the city. You see the crowd rise up, and it turns into a little bit of a moment. And even if Trea doesn’t start going off or whatever, think about also what it does for the rest of the team? They know that we got their back. Sometimes tough love is necessary. Sometimes brotherly love is necessary. Time for that for Trea. Stand with Trea.”

And so, on August 4, at a home game, that’s exactly what the fans at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia did. When Turner came to bat, the fans cheered.

They cheered with all they had.

At the risk of sounding preachy, there’s a word for what Turner experienced that night on August 4. There’s a word for love poured out despite performance - or love poured out IN SPITE of performance.

That word is “grace.”

We don’t do “grace” much in our modern world. It’s a vanishing concept. It’s a scandalous concept, really.

But like the old song says, grace really is amazing.

Grace is when you receive something completely undeserved, like love from a fanbase like you’re a superstar when you’re playing like a bad little leaguer.

Grace is what we humans often most need.

Especially when we fail.

And grace really can heal.

Funny thing. After that standing ovation on that hot August night in Philadelphia, things turned around for Turner.

Dramatically.

Since August 04, Turner has batted .337 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in just 48 games.

Last night, the Phillies advanced in the playoffs, beating the Florida Marlins 4-1 and 7-1. And in his first two post-season games with Philadelphia, Turner is batting .571 (and slugging .857) with two stolen bases.

For you non-baseball fans out there, that is really, really good.

And you know who was there cheering him on? All those Philly fans.

I don’t know if the Phillies will win the World Series. But I know that the fans in Philadelphia - and Trae Turner - are already a part of something very, very special.