St. Louis Cardinals: Stoicism, slumps, and baseball

Stoic ideals are often mentioned in baseball but are not named outright. Focusing more on this philosophy could help a few players on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ players Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong still know how to hit. They still have the physical attributes that can allow them to hit the ball. The issue is all mental in the expectations and meaning they are putting to the results they are getting. Baseball is always said to be a mental game and Wong and Fowler are in need of a mental re-framing. Enter stoicism.

Stoic philosophy began in third century BC Athens and was popularized later by Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. You are not here for a history lesson so I’ll stop there but the premise of stoicism is to control what you can, do not fret about what you cannot, and master the inner self. This also includes framing obstacles and part of the process of achieving a goal, and to welcome them.

Stoicism is more prevalent in baseball than you would imagine, it is just never named as such. The following will be quotes from Seneca that I think, if read and applied by both Carpenter and Fowler, could be beneficial.

“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.” -Seneca

Think about how many times a player swings out of his shoes and tries to hit a home run, or is described as “anxious.” We saw this with Marcell Ozuna for a long time before his recent resurgence. Each situation is an example of where players are not working in the moment, but are instead thinking too much about what has not happened yet.

When players live only in the present, and do the best they can in each moment, they do not worry about how far their homers are gonna go, they only worry about the next pitch that is coming.

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“That which blocks the path is the path”

A change is often needed when you are in a rut. Looking at a problem you are stuck in in a different

way, such as embracing it, can often make it easier to deal with. If Fowler and Wong stop beating themselves up and view their slumps as a death sentence but as a rocky part of the path of where they are supposed to be in their careers, the pressure is lifted.

(This quote is the entire premise behind the book, “The Obstacle is the Way” by Ryan Holiday, which I would highly recommend)

“Only time can heal what reason cannot.” -Seneca

Lastly, sometimes it just takes time. As some have said about Matt Carpenter‘s “bad luck,” luck runs out, good and bad. He has turned his season around recently. Sometimes the only thing to do is keep working hard and wait for the luck to turn. Eventually good players will have good numbers. If there is dissonance between the player they are and what the numbers say, why worry? In the long run, the Law of Averages will balance everything and everyone back to where they should be.

Next: Not shifting hurts

Using Stoicism as an operating system for life can ease the mind. Stoic ideas are everywhere and baseball is no exception. The Cardinals struggling players will come around, and this philosophy can help. Where else do you see Stoicism in baseball?

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