Just a few days after I said the Rays won’t choke they’ve now lost 6 of 7 and there 5.5 game lead is down to .5.

Choking?

I don’t know.

Maybe.

But they’ve run into some great pitching. They’re still missing two of their best players (3B Longoria, CF
Crawford) and their closer is a gunfighter but old and oft injured (Percival).

They’ve thrived this season on winning close games. Gutting them out. Someone comes through.

No one player has had the team on his back. They’ve

There’s been a sense of magic, of destiny.

They don’t seem to have that luster right now. It has always felt they’d find a way to win.

Now it doesn’t feel that way — there’s a sense of doing the math for how many games they could lose and still get the wild card.

I think they’ll get it back.

But typically teams and individuals in this situation (a run of negative results) will wait around until someone comes through, a big hit falls in, the other team gives them a game, something.

Waiting for that is called being a Victim.

A Victim of circumstances.

A Victim lets what happens outside of them determine what goes on inside of them.

I help players and teams learn to be Players. A Player generates their own “state” (confidence, positive energy,
focus) by how they think and move their bodies.

A Player doesn’t wait around for positive results to happen to them.

A Player creates the state they want, when they want.

They’ve learned to do this through practice. They’ve acquired the skills required to feel positive and confident regardless of recent results.

So they Rays need to connect with the magic again. Generate the state of lightness, joy, and fire they’ve had all year.

Regardless of circumstances.

And focus on the process of performance they’ve been focused on all year.

It gets tougher to block out the end result as the end result gets nearer.

This is where the practice intensity comes in. This is where the practice specificity (specifically practicing being confident, being focused on your routine, etc) comes in.

(Typically players and coaches focus just on mechanics and strategy and hope they hold up under pressure — ignoring the fact that you can train your mental muscles so they can hold up heavier weights).

It’s Baseball in the Fall — beautiful stuff.

Go Rays,

Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson
www.HansonsGym.com

p.s. Your version of Baseball in the Fall is coming. Your next tryout, your next showcase, your next season, your next tournament.

Don’t wait until the last minute to say “Oh, I’m nervous, maybe I should get something to help my mental game.”

Does the farmer wait until the Fall and say, “Oh, I should hurry up and plant some seeds, it’s almost harvest time!”?

Popular choices for you include:

(if you join the gym today you’ll get in on a call tonight at 9 where you can get coached on anything you want) CLICK HERE

Get my dvd programs that drill you on creating a pre-pitch routine (the key to confidence, consistency, and composure under pressure)

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