How to End a Team's Losing Streak in Baseball

Losing streaks are maddening. Every team goes on them and it's certainly understandable when a bad team has dropped eight games in a row. But over the course of a long baseball season, even good teams will go on losing streaks--even some that reach double-digits. The more you try to end the losing streak, the worse it gets. But that does not mean you can ever just accept losing.

Instructions

    • 1

      Call a team meeting but don't raise your voice and point your fingers in an attempt to blame individuals for mistakes that have led to the losing. This will only increase the pressure. Many of the toughest managers who have ever been involved in the game--including Casey Stengel, Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson and Joe Torre--tend to tone it down when the team is losing. If anything, this is the time to build players up so they can overcome poor performances. You can't tell a player he is going well when he isn't, but pull him aside and tell him that you still believe in him and point out what he did right when he was going well. The extra pat on the back just may work wonders.

    • 2

      Call the team in for a video session. Break out videotape of your starters at a time when they were hitting well and the team was playing confident baseball. Seeing what he did when he was hot may just trigger an end to a slugger's slump and help him get a clutch hit.

    • 3

      Talk to the team captain and let him know that he has to take charge and responsibility. The manager can't go around pointing fingers because that will only make a bad situation worse. However, when a player is asking his teammates to be accountable for their actions it has a completely different tone. The captain of the team is not going to demote or fire anyone so his words won't be taken as a threat. They may just shake things up and help the team reverse gears.

    • 4

      Loosen things up in the locker room. The atmosphere is likely to be tense, so you can go a long way by loosening things up. That doesn't mean you need to start cracking jokes like a comedian, but do something to get the players' minds off their troubles. For example, have one of your players pick names out of a hat in order to come up with a new lineup. It shows that you are not above taking unusual means to change the atmosphere and your new lineup may respond with an outstanding effort. This method has been known to work in the past and was used successfully by New York Yankee manager Billy Martin when his team was slumping. The Yankees won the game in 1977 to end a 5-game losing streak and eventually won their first World Series in 15 years.