The ritual begins when Justin Turner unsheathes his 31.5-ounce Rawlings bat from the rack and strides through the dugout.
When he was still a teenager, he learned the importance of a routine, and so he stands on the steps, near Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts, repeating a set of actions ingrained in his memory.
Turner inverts the bat and claps the knob against the three steps separating him from the diamond. Middle step, top step, middle step, bottom step, middle step, then a last whack for the padding on the railing, a concussive noise that reminds Roberts of a barrel striking a ball.