The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-1 under manager Tony La Russa. The championship gave the Cardinals ten World Series championships and their regular season record 83-78 is the lowest win total for a champion. The win gave La Russa two World Series championships and he's the second manager to win a World Series in the American League and National League. How did the underdog Cardinals win? Focus.
In Game 2, Tigers' pitcher Kenny Rogers was spotted with dirt-like substance in the first inning. The umpires asked Rogers to wash his hands. In the second inning, his hands were cleaned. Pitchers use foreign substances such as pine tar to get a better grip on the baseball to pitch more effectively. Any pitcher with foreign substance or other objects are subject to ejection.
Substance or no substance, Rogers dominated the game enabling the Tigers to win Game 2 and even the series 1-1 heading to Game 3 in St. Louis. After the game, La Russa downplayed the incident telling the media the Cardinals were focusing on Game 3. Focus. The key word. The team focused on winning the series and Rogers never affected the team. I bet when the team flew to St. Louis, the Cardinals forgot about Rogers and focused on the championship.
I learned a lesson on life. Focus. The Cardinals never lost sight of their goal. The team focused on winning. Distractions, criticisms, anything that could have caused the Cardinals to lose focus failed. The Cardinals kept the Rogers situation and potential controversy aside. Also, the Cardinals took advantage of the Tigers' poor defense. If the Cardinals lost the World Series, the team blamed themselves for losing their focus.
Keep the focus when working on goals, assignments, and completing responsibilities.
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