Quote Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg View Post
Gotcha. Makes sense. I think close games definitely got in the head of the '22 an '23 teams. The '22 team blew something like 15 leads after the 7th inning - and I think that carried over some last year.
Like all stats and general analysis in baseball, you really have to look at the total package and put it in some context. As you note, the "just baseball" factor looms large and it is a long season. How many years from 2011-2018 did we start off kind of scuffling, get to the half way point in the SEC schedule and then catch fire in the back half and clinch post season - cause it seemed like almost every year.

I think this year the early losses in close games has been more about finding the right lineup and roles out of the pen. We seem to be productive in close games - and very good at making games competitive after getting down early.
I heard Bobby Cox say one time, You will win a third of your games, you will lose a third of your games, it's what you do with the other third that makes you a winner or a loser and if you study the game that pretty much holds true.