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.

Here is my conclusion after working with 1000’s of athletes: Strict or high expectations can undermine and suck the life out of confidence!

Expectations can be tricky. You might think that setting high expectations is good for your performance. But, in reality, expectations can put unnecessary pressure on yourself. You set your expectations so high, they are almost impossible to reach. If you’re not performing up to your expectations, you become frustrated and lose confidence in your game.

I’ve worked with baseball players who expect to throw a no hitter. Only a handful of professional athletes have thrown a no-hitter in their career. In 2008, only two professional baseball players have thrown a no-hitter, Carlos Zambrano and Jon Lester. Think about how many games these teams play a year and only two players, in two different games have thrown a no-hitter. Therefore, no matter how good you are, pitching a no-hitter is not likely.

Doubts can also hurt your confidence. Doubt is the opposite of baseball confidence. When you doubt yourself, you question your ability. You might wonder if you can beat the opposing team. You might wonder if you can hit a ball to left field. Most baseball players doubt themselves after making a mistake or performing poorly.

You’ll want to turn those doubts into statements of confidence. To do that, you want to take a positive outlook on the situation. If you doubt your ability to get a hit, you might tell yourself that you’ve hit millions of pitches before and today is no different.

Besides, doubts are just about your perception of the situation. According to Carlos Pena, of the Tampa Bay Rays, you don’t think about the doubts and just play baseball.

“We’re not intimidated at all (of the Boston Red Sox),” Carlos Pena said. “Remember this: intimidation, worry, fear, doubt is all a product of perception. It depends on how you perceive things. Our point of view is, we’ve got a ball game to play, OK? That’s it. Let’s play baseball, period.”

Your baseball mental game tip for today is to let go of expectations and doubts, which undermine your baseball confidence. Take positive stance about the areas of your game and your ability to perform well. Think about what you need to do in the moment, instead of setting high expectations, such as making solid contact with the ball.