Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians.Getty Images
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The difference between pitching in the seventh inning and closing out a baseball game in the ninth might seem negligible on paper – three outs are still three outs. But Guardians manager Stephen Vogt knows as well as anybody: the mental pressure of those final three outs creates a psychological challenge unlike any other in baseball.
“Anybody can walk across a four by six table,” Vogt explained, using a vivid analogy to describe the unique pressure closers face. “But you put the table up 3,000ft in the air, who’s going to walk across it? That’s what pitching in the ninth is. That’s where the pressure is. It’s three outs, but it’s the last three outs of the game.”
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