The LA Dodgers advanced in their playoff series with the Phillies after relief pitcher Orion Kerkering failed to cleanly field a ball hit at him on the mound as a Dodger runner was heading home to win the game.  All he had to do was throw the ball to first base and the inning would have safely ended.  He panicked and threw a wild throw to home plate and is now struggling to live with a huge mistake that eliminated his team from postseason playoffs.

His teammates are rallying behind him but it begs the question that many often feel when they have let others down not for lack of trying.  Mistakes made under pressure have a way of freezing in time, replaying endlessly in our minds. Kerkering’s error wasn’t from lack of effort but from being human — the moment when instinct and fear collide.

Eventually, he may arrive at the comforting thought that what defines him now isn’t the wild throw, but how he learns to stand on the mound again, proof that redemption often begins where perfection ends.

As Viktor Frankl said “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

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