Thoughts on the Astro’s Loss to the Nationals in the World Series

Kudos to the Nationals on their 6-2 win over the Astros in last night’s game 7 of the World Series. They were the better team last night, and the win was well-deserved. Heartbreaking for the Astros who have their own heroic story, but giving credit where credit is due, the Nationals are to be celebrated for their win. The triumph of winning, the handshakes and bear hugs, kids up too late, out on the field disrupting their baseball Dad’s interviews, all of it is a grand celebration where no one on the winning side can do anything but smile and bodily express the glory of the victory, but what about the losers?

The cameras caught Altuve sitting in the dugout with a bewildered, sorrowful look on his face as if to say, “what just happened?” Correa, one of the last Astros up at bat, jumped up and down after he was struck out. “Say it isn’t so,” his body language spoke, knowing the impending loss was on the horizon. It’s just so hard to accept loss.

Maybe a loss is just as important as a win? Not saying there is any comparison, and who doesn’t want to win? Becoming the champions is a feat of indomitable determination, drive, class and achievement. There’s nothing like it, but maybe just maybe, the Astros’ loss is just as important in a different way.

This month I’ve had several friends in my circle who have lost loved ones, including myself. Many people are facing loss in their lives. If only people who win teach us anything, then how do any of us learn to deal with loss? Loss is a reality of life. Big loss, like the loss for the Astros, leaves us breathless, dazed, wondering “what just happened?” We need examples of how to face loss. How do you pick up the pieces of your life when life just interrupted in a cruel way? How do you carry on when your dreams are dashed, the other “team” won and you are left alone in the “dugout?”

As I looked at the Astros coach’s face toward the end of the game, I thought to myself, “he looks like he wants to crawl under a rock right now.” He may not have felt that way, but I think most Astros’ fans were in shock that it was all coming to an abrupt end. Loss involves endings. What we had is no longer. Courage to go on, to get up again, to look for new beginnings feels akin to running a marathon.

Winning is awesome, but I equally value the examples of those who fought hard and lost, those whose world upended, but they courageously got up again to face a new day. We can draw strength from the losers to say, “if they can do it, then so can I.” We celebrate the winners, but we learn from the example of the losers, if they choose to lose well. You learn a lot about people when they face loss, when their identity is stripped. What and who do they hang onto? My prayer is for the Astros to gracefully accept the loss, learn from it and be the examples they are to so many young and old baseball fans who will draw courage from them to face the losses in their own lives.