{"id":205694,"date":"2025-10-11T15:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/205694\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:16:07","slug":"orion-kerkerings-error-in-the-mlb-playoffs-was-brutal-but-his-response-was-admirable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/205694\/","title":{"rendered":"Orion Kerkering\u2019s error in the MLB playoffs was brutal, but his response was admirable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0This story is part of Peak,\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0desk covering leadership, personal development and performance through the lens of sports. Follow Peak\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Trevor Hoffman blew a save, his first response focused on one person.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man in the mirror,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hoffman is the National League\u2019s all-time saves leader and one of nine relievers in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the failures could be crushing. \u201cTwenty-four other guys had worked their tail off to get the ball to you in that situation and you failed,\u201d he said in an interview with The Athletic last year.<\/p>\n

The only thing he could do was accept responsibility. It was especially important for Hoffman to be accountable in front of reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be your own audience,\u201d he said. \u201cThe man in the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday night in Los Angeles, Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering took his turn in the ring. In a 2-1 loss to Dodgers, it was his mental blunder in the bottom of the 11th<\/a> that cost his team Game 4 of the National League Division Series and clinched the series for Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

So in the moments after the loss, Kerkering did the simplest thing an athlete can do after a mistake. He owned it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a horses\u2014 throw,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His clubhouse interview lasted close to two minutes. It was raw and painful, the 24-year-old Kerkering holding back tears. It also offered a straightforward lesson in accountability.<\/p>\n

With the bases loaded, two outs and the score tied 1-1, Kerkering misplayed a grounder from the bat of the Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto pointed to first base, directing the pitcher to the easier play, but Kerkering panicked, rushed a throw home and heaved it to the screen.<\/p>\n

He became only the second player in Major League Baseball history to commit an error that ended a postseason series.<\/p>\n

Then he had to talk about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust keep it in the back of my head: This really f\u2014\u2014 sucks right now,\u201d Kerkering said. \u201cBut hopefully, keep pushing. Get over this hump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports can offer all manner of wisdom. Every game features a winner and a loser, a hero and a goat. The labels can stick for years. But you didn\u2019t have to be a sports fan to understand or relate to what Kerkering was going through on Thursday. He did something very relatable: He had made an error, rushed to fix it, then made it even worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it was a mental mistake,\u201d Pedro Martinez said on TBS, \u201cprobably all of us have gone through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I listened to Martinez, I think he helped crystallize why the moment resonated: It\u2019s not easy for anyone to accept responsibility, let alone someone at the lowest moment of their career. But Kerkering stood up and talked. In 2025, sports remain one of the few places where public displays of accountability are vulnerable and common.<\/p>\n

Consider just the last week:<\/p>\n

Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones made a high-profile mistake on Monday Night Football, when his lack of effort cost his team on a late touchdown run from Trevor Lawrence. On Thursday, he faced it head-on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a teaching point for me, a little adversity,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson also addressed his mistake in last year\u2019s infamous \u201cFail Mary\u201d against the Washington Commanders, when he taunted the crowd during the game\u2019s final play and then tipped the ball into the hands of Commanders receiver Noah Brown as the Bears lost the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when my son grows up, I\u2019m going to have to explain that to him,\u201d Stevenson said<\/a>. \u201cBut I just use it as fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely appreciate that because I would have never changed,\u201d Stevenson explained. \u201cI had success with my mindset and what I was doing at that time. I felt like with that situation, it was just preparing me to grow and to mature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every day, athletes make mistakes, some larger than others. Their failures are captured on film. The scoreboard renders a clear verdict. On most days, they have to do what Kerkering did on Thursday: Stand up, face a wall of cameras and address them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a responsibility that we all felt that we let our teammates down,\u201d Hoffman said last year. \u201cThat was the biggest hurdle for me to get over. I can still feel some of the blown losses. They stunk and were very hard to get over. But I also realized I wasn\u2019t going to be defined by them. It wasn\u2019t going to be my complete moment. Because I realized I did the things I wanted to do to be prepared. That\u2019s all you can do: Put yourself in the best position to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy to own your mistakes. But the best way to do it, Hoffman said, is to be honest with yourself. On Thursday, Kerkering tried to be. He told reporters that his offseason would feature a \u201ca wall with a tennis ball\u201d because his fielding and throwing needed practice.<\/p>\n

It was a simple admission after a heartbreaking moment in the postseason, and it was powerful because it was honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re honest with what you\u2019re doing and it stinks, so be it!\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cIt\u2019s not always going to work out. You look forward to the next opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0This story is part of Peak,\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0desk covering leadership, personal development and performance through the lens of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,1248,1240,1187,591,17796,2365,1189,85],"class_list":["post-205694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-bears","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-peak","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}