PHILADELPHIA — As a kid, Spencer Strider spent time in his front yard pretending he was pitching in the World Series. Like many others, he dreamed about performing on the biggest stage.
“Nobody wants to come into the game in a regular-season game in June,” he said. “You’re always preparing or visualizing yourself in the biggest games in the biggest moments.”
On Thursday, the Braves will turn to Strider for Game 4. They hope he can save their season. He is their final line of defense, the one tasked with getting this series back to Atlanta.
This will come with many emotions. Strider will step onto the mound, with fans screaming at him, not for him. But he called himself a “detail-oriented” person, someone who is a “purposeful preparer.”
He credits that for his ability to channel all this energy while on the mound.
“I think what’s good for me is to sort of set myself in a direction pregame and just in my daily preparation that kind of allows the energy of playing in the big leagues, and this October, playing in the postseason, to aid in my competitiveness and my abilities,” he said. “And I think it’s something that only experience can really provide you, is the chance to learn to benefit from that adrenaline rather than it be a problem.”
In Game 1 of this National League Division Series, Strider held the Phillies to two runs over seven innings. If he pitches well again in Game 4, he could wash away memories of last year’s postseason, when he wasn’t healthy and the Phillies tagged him for five runs over 2-1/3 innings.
In his career, Strider is 8-0 with a 1.90 ERA in eight regular-season appearances (seven starts) versus the Phillies.
“I feel like I’ve faced the Phillies so many times, it kind of comes up,” Strider said to a question about familiarity. “With any team, it’s the same. I think you stick to your strengths, and there’s sort of an element of randomness that makes it difficult to look too heavily on past outings or past performances just because you don’t know what’s going to happen.
Certainly in the postseason, a lot of that strategy and game-planning goes out the window and you just gotta go compete and find a way to get the job done. So that’s really all I’m focused on doing is just competing as well as I can and putting us in a position to win the game.”
Because of the off-days in the series, the Braves are able to start Strider and Max Fried in four of the five games. If the series sees a Game 5, Fried would start.
Strider relishes the opportunity to pitch a Game 4 with implications on the future of each team.
“That’s what you visualize your whole life is the opportunity to go out and pitch in a game like this and to play in a game like this,” he said. “And I know the rest of our team is excited for that opportunity. And like I said a couple days ago, we’ve been looking forward to October for a long time now. So this is the opportunity that we wanted, and I think regardless of who we play or where we play, we’re going to try and bring the same focus and confidence that made us successful in the regular season and apply that every day that we show up to the park.”
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