Second, this is an excellent time to put the concerns of your life behind you and prepare for the game. A warm-up routine is a good transition between your everyday life and baseball. Many people play a sport to distract them from pressures in everyday life such as work or school. Use the warm-up to put these pressures behind you. Once you tie on your baseball shoes and put you cap on, it’s time to think baseball.

Most players start their warm-up by doing some simple stretches alone or in a team setting. During that time, you want to release the past and start to focus on baseball. You should be doing more than just going through the physical motions of the warm-up. You also want to do the warm up with intensity and focus—a mental routine of sorts.

Remember that the warm-up is just a warm-up and not a “practice session.” The major goal of warm-ups is to loosen-up your muscles and focus the mind. It’s too late to work on mechanics during the warm-up. Trying to “fix” errors before play can actually hurt your game. You won’t correct the problem in 20 minutes and you certainly won’t be able to ingrain the change in your memory.

The best you can do now is work on your at-bat routine just like it was the real thing during batting practice. The same goes for infield and outfield practice. Make it count, don’t just go through the motions.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t perform well during your warm-up. Some athletes just don’t perform well in warm-ups. Have confidence that your game will be there in the first inning.

Some teams struggle with closing out the game because of a comfort zone. A comfort zone is based on an expectation about how you think you should perform. You might expect to lose to a certain team or win by a lot of runs. When you are playing better than expected, you start to protect your lead and avoid making mistakes.

The Cincinnati Reds had trouble closing out their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in a recent game. Joey Votto helped the Red’s close out the game after blowing a four-run lead. Votto homered and had four hits to contribute to the 9-8 win over the Cardinals.

“I wouldn’t use the word nerve-wracking, but I think this year we’ve proven to other people and proven to ourselves that no lead is safe. We have to respect the opposition and play hard all the way through nine innings,” said Votto.

When you have a lead, continue to play aggressively. Set a challenging goal to help you play more aggressively. You might focus on hitting your spots as a pitcher or swinging freely as a batter. The key is not to back up and try to avoid making mistakes. If you think too much about mistakes, you lose focus on what you want to do. Focus on execution rather than the results.

To avoid becoming complacent, go through your routine with full intensity and focus. A common mistake players make is they go through the motions without full focus. You want to keep your intensity and focus at a peak level when you perform. You can always restart your at-bat routine if you feel distracted or not fully engaged.

Your baseball psychology tip is to keep playing hard and playing aggressively. Abandon your expectations and focus on execution instead. Follow your pre-pitch routine with full intensity to avoid becoming complacent.

Phillies Shortstop Jimmy Rollins thrives on the pressure of big games, “When the pressure is on, I definitely show up to play,” said Rollins. “The pressure motivates me to bring my “A” game night after night.” Elite athletes have the ability to raise their level of the performance however, playing in big games can present several mental game challenges for many athletes. Unlike Rollins, players become nervous, distracted, and lose their focus when competing in big games.

To perform at your peak potential in a big game you must embrace the pressure, stay focused, and play with confidence. Rollins and the two-time National League champions do this simply by playing their game and getting every player involved. “Being involved means giving it your all and helping the team win,” said Rollins, “You’ll have to be at the top of your game mentally and physically to compete.”

Rollins uses pregame routine to stay on top of his game mentally. “My pregame routine help me get in the zone before a big game,” said Rollins. To help you cope with the pressures of a big game develop a consistent pregame routine. A pregame routine will help you focus your mind, feel confident, trust in your practice, and maintain the right mindset before competition. During your pregame routine, remind yourself to trust your ability and your confidence in your team.

It is important to focus on your game not your competitors. “When games are competitive and intense we stay focused and play our game, just like any other game,” said Rollins. Focusing on your competitors typically causes you to make negative comparisons, which can undermine your confidence. Instead, you should focus on your strengths, and the process of winning. Before a big game avoid thinking about the outcome or end results. Athletes who focus on the end result lose focus on the process of winning, which limits their performance. Remind yourself that focusing on results will not help you perform your best.

Some athletes lose trust and tighten up in the big game. This can cause you to over control your performance and not play freely. You want your performance to just happen, without thinking too much about “how to” execute your skills. For example, a batter needs to react to the ball instead of think about how to make a good swing. Simplify your thoughts and focus on performance cues that you execute for example feeling balanced in the batter’s box. Avoid thinking too much about your technique trust the skills you learned in practice.

Overall, you want to treat the big game as any other game. You don’t want to place too much importance on one game, which can lead to added pressure, a lack of focus, and trust in your game. Focus on what you do best. The Phillies have won 20 of 25 and moved two games ahead of the Giants in the wild-card race. The Phillies remained 2½ games behind Atlanta in the National League East.

To learn how to prepare for the big game, visit Peaksports Online Mental Training program for more baseball psychology articles and videos

Many baseball players struggle with these mental game challenges. Cleveland pitcher, Justin Masterson is aware of the mental battle with himself. Masterson helped the Indians beat the Red Sox 11-0 last Wednesday night.

“You get a little excited, but once you get on the field, it is game time. Half the time, the battle for me is with myself,” Masterson said.

Half of the battle is fighting with your own mind. Many ball players sabotage their performance; they can’t get out of their own way. They set high expectations for their performance. If you expect to perform perfectly or not make any mistakes you are setting yourself up for failure. When you don’t achieve those expectations, you become frustrated with your performance.

You can also sabotage yourself by adopting negative self-labels. Negative self-labels are confidence-busting names you use to describe yourself. You might tell yourself you’re a streaky hitter, for example.

Even though you may engage in self-sabotage, you can improve your mindset. First, let go of any expectations you have for your performance. Instead, focus on what you need to do in the moment to execute, such as seeing the ball well. Next, change your negative self-labels into positive ones. Instead of calling yourself a streaky hitter, tell yourself you’re a consistent hitter.

If you feel like you’re losing the mental battle, stay patient–you can improve your mental game with practice. Take time to become aware of your mental shortcomings and work to improve your mindset. A strong mental game can only benefit your performance.

The Los Angeles Angels fell 0-6 to the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night. Angels pitcher, Joe Saunders, didn’t perform his best allowing three runs, four hits and five walks over 6 1-3 innings.

“It’s not really frustrating. It’s a good positive for me, knowing that I’m starting to get back to what I know I can do. But team-wise, it’s frustrating that we can’t pull out more wins. We just need to stay positive, and we need to execute better. We need to play the way we’re capable of playing. We just haven’t been doing that consistently this year,” said Saunders.

Confident athletes stay positive after losses, benefiting their performance. Positive thinking will help you bounce back from losses quickly. Instead of losing confidence after a poor performance, notice what you did well. You might have reacted quickly to a fly out or had a good strategy when you were down in the count. Then, take a look at what you didn’t do as well. Use that information to work on your weaknesses in practice and improve as a player. Above all, look at your weaknesses as opportunities for improvement rather than a sign of inadequacy.

Confident athletes are also patient. Many players tend to expect results too quickly. When you become impatient with your performance, you can speed through your routine, lose confidence and focus on the wrong things. Patient players are focused on execution and trust that a good performance will eventually come. Their confidence isn’t thrashed around by results. Patient players are focused on gaining their confidence from more stable sources, such as their preparation and practice.

Your baseball psychology tip is to bounce back quickly from losses by staying positive and patient about your performance. Take an objective look at your game after your performances and work to improve your weaknesses. Stay patient with your results and eventually things will fall into place.

Doubt isn’t the only challenge for baseball players though. Many players have fragile self-confidence. When you have fragile self-confidence, your confidence varies widely based on what’s happening during a game. When you get a hit, your confidence goes up. On the other hand, when you make a mistake, your confidence drops. We call this the confidence rollercoaster. Your confidence changes from moment to moment depending on your immediate performance.

Monday night’s game with the L.A. Dodgers and Houston Astros is a prime example of how self-confidence can benefit your game. Dodgers’ pitcher, John Ely, in his fourth career start, gave up one run and five hits striking out eight batters. Ely contributed to the 6-2 Dodgers win over the Astros.

“I’m just out here doing what I have always done. I just have complete confidence in what I bring to the table and the fact that if I execute my pitches the way I want to, I feel like I have the advantage. That is the way you have to feel every time out. If you doubt yourself, you’re going to give up hits,” said Ely.

Every time you go to the field, you want to have confidence in your game. Your confidence must not waver because of your opponent or the quality of your practice that week. A stable level of confidence is developed over years of practice and training.

Use your practice, training and preparation to develop the foundation of your confidence. After mistakes, you’ll want to remind yourself of why you deserve to feel confident. Is it your work ethic, your improved curve ball or your ability to come back after mistakes? Remember your strengths to help you feel confident.

“Ely’s going to make you hit it; he’s going to make them do the work. He changes speeds so well, I think that’s really the biggest reason why he’s had the success early on. He’s not afraid to throw the fastball any time. And behind in the count, he’s not afraid to take a little off,” said Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre.

Your mental game of baseball tip is to base your confidence over years of practice and play. Don’t wait until something good happens in the first inning to feel confident. Likewise, don’t allow a single mistake to shake your confidence. Rely on what you can control, such as your practice and preparation to keep your confidence when things don’t go according to plan.

This is a common challenge among all baseball players, including pitchers. You may try to “fix” your pitching technique after a wild pitch. Some players become too mechanical and over think their pitching motion.

When you over think your pitching motion, your mind and body are at odds with one another. Your mind is sending verbal commands about “how to” pitch the ball. Your body, on the other hand, wants to perform the motion as you have practiced. You are sending mixed signals to your body, which causes you to tighten up and become tentative. Perfectionists are guilty of this expecting to perform perfectly.

Thursday night’s game with the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners can offer a mental lesson on trust. The Rays handed the Mariners an 8-0 loss for their sixth loss of the season. Mariners pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith and Rays pitcher Jeff Niemann commented on the importance of trust.

Ryan Rowland-Smith discussed his struggles of giving up six runs over 4-1/3 innings.

“It’s nothing mechanical, it’s all psychological. At this point of the year, it seems like the last nine years I’ve played professional baseball, I’ve gotten to this point. Where there are things you worry about that aren’t under your control. … I’ve just got to keep working at it, make the adjustments and I’ll be OK,” said Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Making adjustments is key to performing with trust. You will not always have perfect technique or throw a perfect game. You’ll want to make adjustments and use what’s working. If your curve ball isn’t working for you, try throwing a different pitch. The idea is to perform efficiently instead of perfectly.

Jeff Niemann, Rays pitcher, relies on his quiet mind to trust in his game.

“If you start thinking too much you start digging yourself a really deep hole. You try and address it the best way you can, but at the same time you still have to go out there and throw. It’s a fine line,” said Jeff Niemann.

You’ll want to shut off your analytical mind. Thinking too much can lead to throwing too tight. You’ll want to keep it simple. Think one thought before your pitch. Your thoughts shouldn’t be focused on technique (save those thoughts for practice). You might focus on feeling relaxed or hitting your target.

The bottom line: use your practice time to work on your technique. In games, let your performance shine just like you’ve practiced. Quiet your analytical mind, keeping it simple and using what’s working for you.

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester is one of those players who thrives in crunch time. Lester pitched his way out of a bases loaded scenario to help the Sox beat the Angels 5-1.

“It’s nice to be able to fight out off that and get the ‘W. When you’re able to get out of those jams, it just builds confidence. So when you get into games that really matter, you can draw back and say, ‘I’ve been here before,”’ said Lester.

Some players tend to freeze under pressure when the team depends on them. You might over think your performance and analyze too much, which leads to tight and tentative play.

How can you perform your best under pressure?

Pressure is really self-induced and comes from within yourself, not the situation itself. It’s best not to put pressure on yourself to get a hit or pitch a strike. Try to avoid thinking about the consequences of the game or your actions. Don’t think about “what-if” scenarios, which doesn’t help you perform in the moment. Instead, think about your strategy or the little things that help you perform in the moment. A batter may think about standing tall. A pitcher may think about his target.

You also want to draw on your confidence in those moments. Remind yourself of the times when you performed your best, just like Lester suggests. Replay those good performances in your mind to help you feel confident as you go up to bat or pitch to the next batter.

You can also rely on having an effective at-bat or pre-pitch routine. Use your routine to help you get into a confident and focused mindset, and stay in the moment. By focusing on what you need to do, you shut out distractions, and can focus on one pitch at a time. But keep it simple: plan it, see it, and do it!

You can also check out The Focused Athlete  to help you shut out distractions or The Relaxed Athlete to help you develop a pregame routine.

Pirates’ relief pitcher Octavio Dotel knows a thing or two about staying composed in crunch-time. Dotel was sent in to keep a 3-3 tie with the L.A. Dodgers Wednesday night. The tie seemed to be slipping away when Dodgers’ Jamey Carroll hit a double. To make matters worse, Carroll ran to third on Dotel’s wild pitch. With a runner on third base and no outs, Dotel kept his composure.

He responded with three outs: a comebacker by Rafael Furcal, striking out Matt Kemp and a ground out to Manny Rameriez.

The Pittsburg Pirates went on to win the game 4-3. Pirates’ Ronny Cedeno sealed the win a single line-drive in the 10th inning.

“You can’t start thinking about it, like ‘Oh, my, they’ve got a guy on third, it’s the ninth inning. You’ve got to keep yourself relaxed as much as you can and go pitch by pitch, and that’s what I did,” said Octavio Dotel.

Many ball players can get rattled when things don’t go as planned. You might throw a wild pitch, walk a batter, or strike out. When things don’t go as planned, many players become frustrated, dwell on errors and then speed up their routine.

Playing angry or frustrated baseball can cause more errors, poor decisions and mental mistakes. You’ll want to maintain your focus on the task at hand. Focus on what you have to do to throw a good pitch or to make a successful hit. You can focus on seeing the ball well at-bat or focus on the catcher’s mitt if you’re a pitcher.

Another strategy: stay calm.

“If you watched that inning closely, he never panicked. He knows the game is on the line. He knows a runner is on third base. He knows he’s facing a great lineup. But you still make your pitches. That’s what a veteran guy does. He’s figured it out. He knows how to control himself. That was impressive,” said teammate Evan Meek of Dotel.

Your baseball psychology tip for today is to refocus the moment you find yourself losing composure or dwelling on the past. Remember that no one can make you feel frustrated but yourself.

The goal in baseball is to win, score runs, and get a hit every time at-bat. This is obvious. If you dwell too much on winning or getting a hit, you can lose focus on execution. In addition, if you worry too much about the outcome, you can’t focus on what you need to do to get a hit. Results come from focusing on the process of execution. Focusing on the process is a simple concept to talk about, but one of the most difficult things for athletes to do consistently.

A key lesson I teach to baseball players is how to maintain a present focus. I often need to repeat myself several times and say the same thing in different ways to get the point across. Good results such as getting a hit and winning games comes from focusing on the process or paying attention to one play at a time; one at-bat at a time. You should “see” a positive result in your mind as you settle into the batter’s box. But you don’t want to become so fixated on getting a hit–”I need to get a hit”–that you worry about not getting a hit, going 0 for 4, and tighten up.

Some sport psychologists would say that choking is caused by not paying attention to what’s important —execution. When you focus on execution, it helps keep your calm and free of result-induced pressure. What do I mean when I say focus on execution? Execution is not focusing on the mechanics of hitting. You want to have a plan for each at-bat and stay committed to that plan.

By immersing yourself in your preparation—set-up, balance, visualizing a good at-bat, and focusing only on the pitcher, you put yourself in a position to get a hit. You can’t alter the outcome after the bat makes contact with the ball or the ball is in the catcher’s glove. Plan your at-bat, rehearse it in your mind, prepare your body, and react to the pitcher. What happens next is out of your control. You control your mental focus and you want to use this to your advantage when thinking about your mental game of baseball.