They play scared, yes. Are they inherently scared? No. But, they do tend to play tight against certain opponents, notably, the Yankees, Guardians, Dodgers - to name a few. They faced Lauer in April and teed off on him. Last night, they looked absolutely baffled at the plate. Lauer is who he is. So what's the difference? A team that is playing tight and jumping out of their cleats at the first pitch they saw. The data sample isn't small either - wish it was different, but it is what it is.