{"id":670478,"date":"2026-05-14T13:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670478\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:42:10","slug":"cal-raleigh-was-in-an-0-for-36-slump-then-he-showered-in-his-uniform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670478\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal Raleigh was in an 0-for-36 slump. Then he showered in his uniform"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of Peak,\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak\u2019s newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In any other line of work, it would have been extremely bizarre behavior.<\/p>\n

On late Monday night, in the midst of a 0-for-36 slump at the plate, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh finished a game against the Houston Astros, retreated to the clubhouse and showered in full uniform.<\/p>\n

He did so at the behest of Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, who suggested Raleigh wash off the \u201cbad mojo.\u201d The stratagem appeared to work: The next night, Raleigh finished with two hits in a 10-2 victory, his first two-hit game since April 25.<\/p>\n

In the moments after that game, Raleigh did not necessarily sound like a man convinced by the power of the act. He joked with reporters that his first thought after ending his slump was that people would make a big deal out of his shower.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of just, like, rolling my eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But who\u2019s to say it didn\u2019t help?<\/p>\n

For baseball players, the superstitious ritual of showering in your uniform has been around for decades.<\/p>\n

Leo C\u00e1rdenas, an All-Star shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1960s, was said to shower in uniform \u201cto wash the evil spirits away.\u201d Dave Concepci\u00f3n, another Reds shortstop, once tried the act in the 1980s. And in 2004, Royals manager Tony Pe\u00f1a hopped in the showers with his uniform on during a six-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Braves infielder Kyle Farmer, who was so seemingly superstitious that in 2022, during an early-season slump, he tried showering in his uniform \u2014 twice. <\/p>\n

If it sounds ridiculous, well, that\u2019s sort of the point. Research has shown that laughter can reduce stress, boost the immune system and trigger the release of endorphins. And when it comes to the challenges of hitting a 95 mph fastball, sometimes you just need a mental reset.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a wake-up,\u201d said Justin Su\u2019a, the former head of mental performance for the Tampa Bay Rays. \u201cIt\u2019s so silly. It\u2019s a little bit of a jolt, psychologically.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something that everyone does. Think of the writer who changes location when stuck, or the athlete who uses a small mechanical tweak. It may seem like a physical change, but the reset is actually mental. When Su\u2019a worked with baseball players in the midst of a slump, he often referenced a simple quote as a guiding principle: \u201cWhat can we do to change the pace, change the place or change the perspective?\u201d<\/p>\n

For Raleigh, the pace and the place were seemingly all wrong. After hitting 60 homers in 2025 and finishing runner-up in the American League MVP race, he has been one of the worst hitters in baseball in 2026. One year after advancing to the American League Championship Series, the Mariners have tread water near .500.<\/p>\n

By Monday, after another hitless night had extended the longest hitless streak in the majors, Raleigh realized he needed to do something to lighten the mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can make fun of it,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cAnd we can do those things. Guys can laugh at their own mistakes a little bit and keep it lighthearted around here and have fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s ultimately when we\u2019re playing our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball players, by custom and tradition, are among the most superstitious athletes. The season is long; the grind is never-ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen many times where baseball players will say: \u2018I need to go fishing,\u2019\u201d Su\u2019a said. \u201c\u2018I need to go golfing. I need to call my grandma. I need to turn on \u2018The Office\u2019 and just laugh. I need to go hang out with someone who brings me joy outside of baseball.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just need to find a reason to laugh together, even if that means showering in full uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost sounds overly simplistic, but there\u2019s just so much benefit to changing the channel on your emotions,\u201d Su\u2019a said. \u201cInstead of facing so inward, face outward.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sport where routine is paramount, sometimes the secret is breaking it. In this case, in the most drastic way possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of Peak,\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5257,591,17796,5162,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-670478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-peak","13":"tag-seattle-mariners","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}