Jackie Robinson West (by Lauren Visser)

Lauren Visser is one of our DMin students and a youth pastor in Chicagoland, and her heart breaks for the kids who played for Jackie Robinson West. If you don’t know the story: JRW is a Little League franchise that won the USA tournament but lost in the World championship. Just recently their trophy was taken back because of inappropriate expansion of borders to determine who could play in their league. Lauren doesn’t question this part of it but instead focuses on the sense of team that can be a core learning feature of the team.

I never cared about the Little League World Series before, but once I heard about Jackie Robinson West and Mo’ne Davis, I was hooked.  As a female athlete who grew up playing soccer with a predominantly male team, I was more intrigued by Mo’ne Davis and her story. But as a former softball player who lives in Illinois, I couldn’t ignore Jackie Robinson West. I rallied behind them, like so many other fair weather baseball fans.

And I rally behind them now.

My rally cry, however, does not hinge on whether they keep their title or not.  As many articles have pointed out, there are still many unknowns.  Regardless of the outcome, though, my position will remain the same; in the midst of the blaming and finger-pointing, I want to rally around the fact that baseball is a team sport.

You win as a team, and you lose as a team.

No matter who was the cause of the loss.

Or who was the cause of the win.

You face the consequences together.

If we look at the players and separate them from the adults, then we are severing community. Perhaps the players were unaware of the alleged cheating.

Perhaps they were not.

Yet this point is inconsequential.

Because one of the most beautiful aspects of baseball – and other team sports – is that you learn to face life as a team.

At its best, a team:

• creates a community of support that challenges you
• allows those challenges to turn you into a better person
• forms a family that will journey with you through life, no matter what happens
• learns to work with people who come from different backgrounds
• loves the strength that comes from diversity
• shares experiences and forges bonds through those experiences

Team sports can be a beautiful metaphor of the body of Christ.  As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:12, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”

A team is one entity.

It has many parts, many players.

But those many parts form one team.

And just like the body of Christ, teams are full of imperfect people. They make mistakes, and they make headlines.  But I believe that a response to mistakes and imperfection should be forgiveness and grace.  Forgive as we have been forgiven.

No matter what happens with Jackie Robinson West, I hope they restore the beauty of the team – many parts forming one body.  And as a team, I hope they move forward with courage and character, forgiveness and grace.