I’m one of the people who has recently jumped on the bandwagon during the exciting season that the Toronto Blue Jays have put together in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Jays haven’t made it to the post season since winning back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993, and fans are anxious for the long drought to end.
I love watching and talking about the Jays and the Toronto Maple Leafs (I’ve got a good feeling about this season!) from a regular fan perspective, but another great thing about watching sports is that it gives you an opportunity to see a lot of spirituality stuff in action. The most recent example of this came curtesy of two pitchers for the Jays: Marcus Stroman and Mark Lowe.
Back in spring training Marcus Stroman tore his ACL (a muscle in your knee) in a routine play during practice. The prognosis from the doctors was not good. He was told he would need surgery and that he would definitely miss the entire 2015 MLB season.
He was distraught, and when he called his parents, in tears, to tell them what had happened, they couldn’t even understand what he was saying over the phone at first.
After some time, however, Marcus gathered himself, did some thinking, and made a decision. He decided that he would do his rehab and that he would pitch this season. He wanted to be a starting pitcher and play meaningful games in September. He turned a deaf ear to the naysayers and simply focused on putting a plan of action together to achieve his goal. He started his aggressive rehab program and worked closely with doctors and trainers at Duke University, the school he had attended for three and a half years before he left, several months shy of getting his degree, to start his baseball career.
“I don’t know how realistic it was,” Marcus said in an interview this week. “If you ask the doctors, it probably wasn’t.”
Of course, it was hard work. And while he was working on his knee, he also attended classes and finished up his degree, something he had really wanted to do.
Marcus also told reporters that a few months ago, when it was starting to look more and more like he would actually be able to get back this season, he and his best friend were looking at the Blue Jays’ schedule in September, talking about when he could possibly return. They thought it would be nice if he could be ready for the Blue Jays 4-game series against the New York Yankees scheduled for September 10th to the 13th. If he hadn’t gotten injured, he would have made his debut against the Yankees back at the beginning of the season. Plus, being from the New York area, playing in Yankee Stadium in front of friends and family would be even more special.
Well, as I’m sure you guessed, Marcus got his wish. He was the starting pitcher in game 3 of the series yesterday. He pitched five innings (his outing was cut short because of a rain delay in the middle of the 6th inning) and recorded the win in front of large group of excited friends and family as the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 10-7.
And now for one of my favourite relief pitchers for the Jays, Mark Lowe.
As I mentioned earlier, this 4-game series between the Jays in the Yankees was originally scheduled to be played over four days from September 10th to 13th. However, the game scheduled for Thursday night was cancelled due to rain and rescheduled to be played after the Saturday afternoon game that would have originally been game 3, creating a doubleheader.
In an interview shortly before the first Saturday game was to start, Mark was asked about the doubleheader situation. He said that pitching in both games of a doubleheader was actually something he had always wanted to do.
Now, Mark had pitched Friday night, so it seemed a little bit unlikely that the Jays would use him in both games that Saturday. One of the other relief pitchers that had also pitched in Friday’s game said he could pitch in one of the Saturday games but probably not both. Some others who had pitched Friday were unlikely to be available for either game on Saturday.
Well, Mark was called on to pitch in the first game, which was a marathon 11-inning, four and a half hour affair that tested the depth of both teams’ bullpens. He was also the closer for the second game. He pitched extremely well in both games, and he was the only Blue Jays pitcher to pitch in both games of the double header.
Would Marcus Stroman have chosen to tear his ACL in spring training? No, probably not. But he didn’t let that unwanted event keep him down, nor did he let it dictate what he could achieve or limit his desire. Because of that injury, he was able to finish his degree, which is something that he has said was extremely important to him. He also became a wonderful example, to himself and others, of how by focusing on what you want despite seemingly overwhelming odds, you can receive your desires. Mark Lowe’s desire, on the other hand, wasn’t something he was probably super-focused on, nor was it something he had any direct control over. But thanks to a rainy Thursday night and a loooong game Saturday afternoon, he did get to pitch in both games of a doubleheader just like he had wanted to.
Isn’t it strange how things work out?