Alan Kornspan
Believeland Media
The Cleveland Guardians organization has made the mental game a priority for many years.
So it is certainly not a surprise when one of the Guardians top pitchers talked about the advice his mental coach gave him before starting game one of the American League Division Series.
Tanner Bibee pitched an excellent game one of the ALDS for the Cleveland Guardians as he pitched four and two thirds innings only giving up four hits and striking out six Tigers batters.
However, although Bibee was calm, cool, and collected on the mound against the Tigers in game one, in the days leading up to the game, that wasn't necessarily the case.
In fact, in the post-game press conference after game one, Bibee said that he had been feeling anxious for three days before he was to make his post-season debut.
"Yeah, I mean, the past three days felt like there was a lead block in my stomach," said Bibee.
Since he was feeling anxiety he contacted his mental coach for advice.
"And with the mental game, I think I talked to my mental guy last night, Brian Cain," said Bibee.
"And I texted him. I was like, hey, man, my stomach has been hurting for the past three days. What do I need to do here? And he sent me this video from John Johns when he was I think like 17 or 18 years old, and he talked about keeping the butterflies in formation because you're going to keep -- you're going to have butterflies. You're going to be nervous because you care. So just keeping that adrenaline, keeping that like anxiety, keeping that excitement going in the right direction can only help you. And I feel like I did a good job of that once he told me that."
As Bibee suggested, the advice seemed to help him with dealing with the pre-game anxiety.
In addition, to consulting with a mental coach before his game one start, Bibee also said that he talked with Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber as well.
Bibee said that Bieber has served as a mentor to him since Bibee began pitching for the Guardians.
Bibee also credited Bieber with helping him get ready for game one.
"Shane called me a couple of days ago because I was texting him and asking him a couple of questions about the first postseason starts," said Bibee. "And we couldn't really connect, and then he got here this morning. So he talked to me and he gave me some pointers."
With Bibee staying calm with help from his coach and mentor, the Guardians now lead the ALDS 1-0 over the Tigers.
The Guardians will try to go up 2-0 on Monday afternoon when they take on the Tigers at Progessive field.
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