We are now nine days into October. This is probably one of my favorite months for one reason only: the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs occupy this whole month. They began this past Tuesday and will not end for some time. The first round of the playoffs is called the Wild Card round. It is a one game playoff. The team that wins moves forward and the team that loses goes home.
On Wednesday, October 7, 2015, the Chicago Cubs were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs. It is the top of the 7th inning and the Cubs are up 4-0. There are two outs and nobody on base. Jake Arrieta, the Cubs pitcher, steps up to the plate and the first pitch hits him in the hip. Previously, in this game, Arrieta had hit two of the Pirates’ players. It is difficult to tell how intentional each hit by pitch was, but the Pirates took it personally (which is something all baseball teams would do). When Tony Watson, the Pirates pitcher, hit Arrieta, you could tell from a mile away how intentional it was. Now instead of just walking to first base, Arrieta started to yell at Watson. This led to both teams coming out of their dugouts and onto the field. There were no punches thrown, but lots of shoving took place. Out of all of this, only one player was ejected. Sean Rodriguez, the first baseman for the Pirates, says that David Ross, of the Cubs, began to choke him as a way to calm him down. This of course only made Rodriguez more upset and resulted in his ejection. Now Rodriguez did not take this lightly. He proceeded into the dugout and found himself upset at one of team’s water coolers. He decided that it needed to be shown who is boss and started to punch it. Once it fell to the ground in defeat, he simply walked out of the dugout and into the clubhouse where he would spend the rest of the night watching the game.
On Thursday, Rodriguez tweeted an apology for his actions and also mentioned that he had apologized to the water cooler and forgiveness had been given. There are no hard feelings between them. The interesting part of his tweet is how he opened it. He started by quoting Romans 3:23-24 which says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” That could not be any truer. This may seem like a silly story and we all laugh, but in reality it’s true. Baseball is a game, but the people who play the game are real. Christ Jesus brought redemption and it is for all people, including Sean Rodriguez.
fathersjoy 
As a fellow lover of baseball, I had an amazing time following you on this story. I could picture everything you were saying about this game as if it were right in front of me! I love the way you capture us in by talking about how passionate you are for baseball and how simple and silly this message is. But at the same time it speaks so much more than what it would seem! Thank you abby for sharing the heart of Christ for us, who loves us, the cubs and the pirates, and all of humanity even when we mess up all the time.
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Abby!
Thank you for sharing this story:) It made me smile! 🙂 It also made me think of the children at my church. HAHA!! That’s seriously how they would have reacted. One of the little girls was mad today and kicked the wall!!! Rodrigeuz sounds like a child in this story. BUT he did do the adult thing and apologize (with a funny twist!). I wonder if his sentiment about sinning and the glory of God was genuine. I love seeing “stars” talk about God and faith. Even if it’s Justin Beiber! There must be something good about it:) Thanks Abby!
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Abby! This is a fun story, but it’s incredible to see that even though he reacted in that manner he apologized and even apologized for the water cooler. His act of repentance and use of scripture was really interesting to see because it almost goes against what we expect from the people in this world. Especially in the scope of modern world, we see individuals like Kanye who don’t apologize for their actions even if they were outlandish. With that being said, it’s cool to see his positive response and ownership for his actions. Thanks for sharing this article and for your insight in something you love.
-Adam Dahir
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