Pitch like it's just another game, former Blue Jays player urges Marcus Stroman

A former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher says the key to pitching under pressure is to throw the ball as if it's just another game.

Paul Spoljaric, who pitched six seasons in Major League Baseball, has some advice for Marcus Stroman as he prepares to take the mound in the American League wild-card game against the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. Spoljaric pitched for the Blue Jays in parts of four seasons.

Thousands of fans may be screaming in the stands, he said, but it's a matter of remembering that you have a job to do.

"I'm excited for Marcus Stroman," Spoljaric told Metro Morning on Tuesday. "It's a great opportunity for him. I hope he goes into the game with the same approach that he took to all his other starts all year that it's just another game. It's still 60 feet six inches."

Spoljaric, originally from Kelowna, B.C., says elimination games don't make him nervous as a former player, but he acknowledged there is great expectation in Toronto ahead of the game. 

"It's unbelievable excitement around the city. Everybody is on pins and needles wondering what's going to happen. But you know what? You just have to play the nine innings out and see what happens," he said.

"I think teams that good teams kind of sort themselves out over the course of the season. The Jays are exactly where they should be," he said. "They are in a spot fighting for their playoff hopes. That's basically the team that they are.

"Do I want them to win? Absolutely."

Spoljaric said Stroman will have to focus on the task at hand.

"I never pitched an elimination game like that. But I pitched in the playoffs before and I distinctly remember saying to myself: 'This is just another game. It really is. Do not get caught up in the emotion because you have a job to do.' Take the emotion out of it, you will somehow be able to focus better on what it is you are trying to do," he said.

"Pitching is essentially just executing pitches. It's not even pitch selection so much. Yes, that comes into question, but executing a pitch to the best of your ability is truly an art form. That's why these guys make the money they make," he said.

"If he does that, with his stuff and his ability, I got a real good feeling that the Jays are going to be right where they need to be."

Spoljaric said it should be clear "real early," probably by the end of second inning, how Stroman is doing. He said Stroman pitches with much energy, and if he can keep that energy under control in the first inning, maybe even with the first hitter, he will be on his way.

"That first one, sometimes, it's the hardest out to get," he said. 

After that, he said a pitcher's heart rate will go down, there will be a release of tension, the energy will calm down around the pitcher, then it's all business.

"If you see his first pitch is a fast ball, and you see it up by someone's neck, then you know he's got to get some work done and he's got get himself under control."

But if Stroman does manage his energy and tunes out the noise, Spoljaric said: "I think it's going to be a remarkable game. I really do."

Spoljaric has played for the Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals.