This past Labor Day, my sister, who has absolutely no interest in baseball, surrendered to some coercion and agreed to go to the San Francisco Giants game with me.

The thrilling game, which went into extra innings, was described by catcher Buster Posey as “one of the best wins of the season.”

My reluctant sister ended up yelling out the players’ names, booing the other team and cheering when the Giants scored!

At the end of the last overtime inning, when the boys in orange pulled off a torture-filled victory, I turned to her, “I thought you didn’t like baseball?”

“It’s not just baseball,” she replied, “they’re more than a bunch of high-paid athletes. They’re a TEAM, and it’s inspiring to watch them play.”

I agree. It made me think of how a productive team is poetry in motion…a pleasure to watch and to be a part of.

Our San Francisco Giants have shown us that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In fact we saw many parts taken away this year and they not only survived, they thrived with the challenge. They gave new meaning to stepping up to the plate.

The big prize is in sight.  Winning the World Series is now a possibility. What comes in between that and now is daily progress toward that goal. To all those teams who do their very best every day, day in and out, I applaud you: Go, Team(work)!