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You’d be surprised how helpful a pleasant scent can be.

I don’t buy into things like essential oils, but I do know a little bit about brain chemistry. While certain scents won’t cure diseases or give you super powers, they can aid in certain mental states. I always keep a bottle of lavender oil on hand when I have to get a shot to keep me calm, and it works wonders. Apparently, Dansby Swanson, shortstop for the Atlanta Braves, is a proponent of the power of scent as well, and mysteriously, it helped drive his team to victory.

Prior to yesterday’s game against the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park, Swanson apparently made his way around the field with a burner loaded with his favorite herb, sage. Swanson made a point of spreading the uplifting scent around as much of playing area as he could, trying any method he could think of to lift his team’s spirits after two nasty shutouts against Arizona. This may sound like hokum, but strangely enough, the Braves were on fire during the game, coming out on top at the end of everything 8-7 with ten hits and an opposite-field homer.

“Every bit of area I could find in this place, I went into,” Swanson said. “I might have to bring some tomorrow, too.”

Sage burning is a habit Swanson picked up from his girlfriend, U.S. women’s national soccer team forward Mallory Pugh, utilized whenever they move into a new home or otherwise when “you feel like you need to cleanse the air a little bit.”

Dansby Swanson Burned Sage on the Field to Break Out of a Slump and Promptly Smacked a Homerhttps://t.co/hROOHCJm7s pic.twitter.com/YjFd3i2l5b

— Starting 9 (@Starting9) April 27, 2021

“All year, I’ve been like if it gets to a point, I’m bringing sage in here — and I think yesterday was finally to that point,” Swanson said. “I pretty much walked every bit of area you can find in this place, I went into. It was fun.”

“(Swanson) had to put it right under my nose because I’m so clogged up with the pollen and everything, I couldn’t even smell it,” Manager Brian Snitker said. “I’ll plant some of it. I could put sage in soup.”