A thing I believe about MLB players (and high level athletes in general) is that they usually have supreme self belief and confidence compared to normal people. So in a couple of these I thought maybe the correct one was the one where they looked MORE confident. But look where that strategy got me.
I failed: 1/4. My first thought is that I was keyed on the wrong thing: the tell is not nervous energy but intentionally suppressed nervousness. My second thought is that I don't know these guys well enough to know their individual tells. My third thought is that there is legitimately no difference and that a sufficiently large sample would demonstrate that. Professional athletes are competition monsters largely immune to nerves as we understand them.
Likewise, 4/5. But I figured the tell was them trying to relax. A batter leaning over the plate, a pitcher waggling their arms. And then McCarthy I missed because in the first clip he leans over the plate. If the tell isn't them trying to stay loose, what do you think the tell is? Are you seeing something in their breathing?
Two sets of results that came in by email:
Reader J went 0 for 5.
Reader D went 2 for 5, getting Puk and Mullins correct
1/5, only got Gaddis.
A thing I believe about MLB players (and high level athletes in general) is that they usually have supreme self belief and confidence compared to normal people. So in a couple of these I thought maybe the correct one was the one where they looked MORE confident. But look where that strategy got me.
1/5. I got Lindor and missed the rest. And like Sam said in a comment, I thought they all looked uncomfortable in all of them.
I failed: 1/4. My first thought is that I was keyed on the wrong thing: the tell is not nervous energy but intentionally suppressed nervousness. My second thought is that I don't know these guys well enough to know their individual tells. My third thought is that there is legitimately no difference and that a sufficiently large sample would demonstrate that. Professional athletes are competition monsters largely immune to nerves as we understand them.
Funnily enough, I thought the challenge would be not that they are immune to nerves but that (to me) they look uncomfortable in all of them!
2/2 on the batters. 0/3 on the pitchers, and I couldn't even make a call on McCarthy.
Likewise, 4/5. But I figured the tell was them trying to relax. A batter leaning over the plate, a pitcher waggling their arms. And then McCarthy I missed because in the first clip he leans over the plate. If the tell isn't them trying to stay loose, what do you think the tell is? Are you seeing something in their breathing?
4/5 😊 I passed!