What is the key to winning baseball or softball games?
Summary: Trying to control the entire outcome of a game — instead of just the current pitch or at-bat — creates pressure that leads to overthrowing, overswinging, and mistakes. This article explains why winning the moment pitch by pitch is the real foundation of winning games.
Your immediate answer is probably to score more runs than the opposing team over the course of nine innings.
While the answer is true, it’s a bit too simplistic. Your next thought may be that you win with strong pitching, strong defense, quality at-bats, and smart base running.
While again true, there is a factor more essential to winning games. The foundational element that is the building block of team success in baseball and softball is winning the moment.
Ballplayers get in trouble when their focus is too broad. For example, a pitcher who feels he needs to strike out the side in the ninth inning to win the game.
When you have a broad focus as a pitcher, you place more pressure on yourself. You think you need to throw perfect pitches, so you nibble at the corner of the plate.
This mindset results in you throwing the ball just outside the strike zone, and you fall behind in the count. Since you don’t want to walk the batter, you throw the next pitch right over the plate, and the hitter crushes the ball for an extra-base hit.
The same is true when you are at the plate. If you have a broad focus, you may try to do too much. When the bases are loaded, you may feel pressure to drive in multiple runs.
Instead of focusing on your at-bat and looking for your pitch, you try to clear the bases and reach for pitches outside the strike zone or over-swing, resulting in you striking out.
Winning the moment is focusing on one pitch at a time while considering the game situation.
It’s concentrating on the immediate task at hand and performing your best given your circumstances.
In other words, winning the moment is about winning the current play. For example, winning the current play at the plate is focusing on the pitch, making the right decision, and executing a successful swing.
Winning the current play for a pitcher is focusing on pitch selection and location signaled by the catcher and throwing an effective pitch.
Winning the current play in the field or on the base path is understanding the game situation and making the correct play at that moment.
In a critical game, late in the 2024 MLB season against the Minnesota Twins, the Texas Rangers pulled out a 6-5 win in the tenth inning, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
Even though the Ranger’s playoff chances were slim, the team continued to battle one moment at a time. Texas third Josh Jung may have summed up the mindset of battling one moment at a time.
JUNG: “We don’t want to give up. We’re not in the best of situations at the moment, but [let’s] just go out there and compete every night. … Just try to go win every at-bat.”
In essence, winning the moment is about fully engaging and performing at your peak in the moment, regardless of the score or the stakes.
As part of your pre-pitch routine, reset your focus by using a physical or verbal cue to set yourself up for winning the moment.
For example, you can use the verbal cue, “focus on this pitch only” or a physical cue of making a fist to get locked in during each pitch.
FAQ
What’s the real key to winning close games?
Winning the moment — focusing on one pitch or at-bat at a time — rather than trying to control the entire outcome of the game at once.
Why does trying to “win the whole game” at once hurt performance?
It creates a broad focus that adds pressure, causing pitchers to nibble at the corners and hitters to try to do too much instead of executing one pitch or at-bat at a time.
How does broad focus hurt a pitcher specifically?
A pitcher trying to strike out the side to win the game nibbles at the zone, falls behind in the count, and then grooves a pitch to avoid a walk — often resulting in a hit.
How does broad focus hurt a hitter specifically?
A hitter trying to clear the bases with one swing often reaches for pitches outside the zone instead of looking for their pitch in their zone.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Keep a Winning Streak Alive
- Mental Game Lessons From the Indians’ 22 Game Winning Streak
- How to Stay Confident When Not Winning
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