KC Royals: Psych Studies Support Batting Alcides Escobar At Leadoff

It’s Poker, Not Chess

The only reasonable explanation is that something happens inside the brains of the Kansas City Royals under duress which causes them to raise their game. Otherwise, we’d have to accept that the KC Royals have been the recipients of insane luck at the most crucial moments for the last THREE FREAKING YEARS.

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One psychological study showed that golfers on a roll perceived the hole as bigger than rivals who struggled. Another research paper revealed that softball players who are hitting well believe the ball is bigger than struggling hitters. Researchers concluded that there’s a positive correlation between batting average and perceived ball size.

Given the above evidence, is it so hard to understand that the Royals’ historic playoff successes with Alcides Escobar at leadoff increased their confidence in such a lineup? Is it such a stretch to believe that the whole team might see the ball better because of their past feats with Escobar at the top of their order?

Ned Yost and his coaches might not be aware of it, but psychology experiments back up their decision to install Escobar as the team’s leadoff hitter. The KC Royals repeated ability to overcome impossible odds is rooted in psychology.

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When Wall Street Journal writer Brian Costa called Yost a dunce, he praised Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter as a “chessmaster”. Maybe that’s what sabermetrics guys don’t understand. Maybe baseball is more like poker than chess, and the minds of the players are more important than any strategy.