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We’ve written previously about how the grind that is the Major League baseball regular season, a 162-game odyssey, can be grueling for even the sturdiest of ball players.
But if you ask the average ballplayer if all 162 of those games are the same, you’ll likely be told that there is baseball and then there is the pressure of September baseball.
Since Major League Baseball expanded its playoff format to 12 teams (three division winners and three wild cards in each league) in 2022, the stretch run to the postseason has never been more competitive or crowded. As of this posting, only three of MLB’s 30 teams have been eliminated from contention.
As a result, September evenings are filled with highs and lows and ritual “scoreboard watching” by players and fans alike. It’s a different level of intensity and stress because:
- Every game counts: There’s an adage that the “playoffs start in September” because every game typically has high stakes as it pertains to the standings. The end of every night is one less chance to secure your place or make up ground.
- There are (mostly) no days off: While the first five months of the season tend to have a more relaxed cadence, September is all hands on deck and the opportunities for a breather are few and far between.
- Changes are locked: As a result of the above, there is far less time spent on the practice field, which conserves energy but doesn’t afford the struggling player much opportunity to work out the kinks in their game.
Baseball players are notorious creatures of habit and most would attest that the pressures of September are as joyous as they are burdensome. But given the increased focus and openness in the last few years around mental health, one can clearly see the benefits of incorporating tools such as alphabeats. Athletes who do so stand to benefit from enhanced daily routines and maximized performance at the most critical times.
Taekwondo competitor Aymen Achnine and professional tennis player Austin Krajicek, both alphabeats users, have shared that one of the primary benefits of using the tool has been an increased ability to move past setbacks and “reset” mid-match if a game plan isn’t going as planned, something that could benefit any hitter coming up in the ninth inning of a tie game riding a 0-for-3.