The Yankees haven’t won a World Series in 17 years. The last time they won, in 2009, they were in the old stadium. Maybe the new stadium is cursed. But in a city with rabid fans, the 2026 team did not live up to expectations. They lost. They’re losers.
The baseball season is long – 162 games – and grueling. Major League Baseball is proposing reducing that number to 154 beginning in 2009. It’s not a big reduction, but it’s something. Would it give players days off so they can rest and recover? Injuries plagued, not just the Yankees this year, but many other teams. Because of injuries, Yankee star Aaron Judge sat out 100 of those games, removing the team’s captain and home run hitter from the lineup.
When Judge spoke to the media after the team’s last game, the Tampa Bay Rays celebrating in the visitor’s clubhouse, he didn’t try to shift the blame. He and the team owned what had happened. They didn’t win, they lost, and there would be time in the off season to come to terms with that failure and try to improve for the 2027 season.
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about losing, not just for the Yankees, but for the rest of us. At one time in our lives, we’ve all been losers. Some losses are on a small scale, going bankrupt playing Monopoly. Losing out on that apartment that seemed perfect, but was nabbed by another buyer.
Lawyers often go through long trials, but in the end, one side wins, the other loses. The result may be the loss of a client, bad publicity for the firm, or animosity among those who put in long days and nights and then left with nothing to show for all that hard work.
One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he hates to lose. His father, Fred, drilled that into him at a young age. Don’t be a loser. Six years after the 2020 election, he still claims he won. Many believed him and stormed the Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden, who did win. Trump never conceded and didn’t attend Biden’s inauguration. In contrast, Hillary Clinton attended Trump’s in 2017, and Biden attended Trump’s in 2025. Neither Democrat claimed the election was rigged. They accepted their loss.
The midterm elections are less than a month away. Ads continue to run on TV and solicitations for donations to candidates flood our inboxes. In all of these races, there will be one winner, and maybe one or more losers. Will there be concession speeches by those who lost? Or will we see candidates claiming fraud and asking for recounts? Worse yet, will we see outrageous acts like the seizing of ballot boxes or the refusal to swear in the winners? This is new territory for our democracy and to imagine anything less than a peaceful and legitimate election is frightening.
Some losses, a miscarriage, the death of a loved one, are difficult or impossible to get over. But sometimes a loss, while hard to take at the time, may lead to improvements and a win in the future. Accepting a loss also says something about a person’s character. A good coach tries to teach young players that lesson. After a tough loss, the losers and winners shake hands and say, “good game,” whether they believe it or not. But it sends a message. Good sportsmanship, whether on or off the field, is the mark of a true winner.
Top Bigstock photo by TeroVesalainen
