By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

It’s just a game? Hardly. Baseball is a big business, and major league players and coaches put in countless hours of hard work in order to excel under almost unimaginable scrutiny and pressure.

So where do they find the joy?

While covering spring training in Florida last year, we put that question to Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.), bench coach Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.), and then-Blue Jays outfielder Curtis Granderson.

“It’s easy to find the joy because I get to do my dream job every single day,” said Pivetta, a hard-throwing righty from Victoria, BC, who some analysts have pegged for a breakout season after cementing his place in Philadelphia’s starting rotation last year.

“It’s not hard to wake up at 6 a.m. every day and get your work in, because you get to do what you love,” Pivetta said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

As a coach, Thomson says his joy is in seeing his charges succeed.

“When I first started coaching, Joe McDonald, who was our farm director in Detroit, said to me, ‘You’re crossing a fence now. There’s no going back now. And one thing you have to realize is it’s all about the players. It’s not about you.’ And I’ve always lived by that,” said Thomson, the newly minted Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer from Corunna, Ont., who will again oversee the Phillies’ spring training operation in Clearwater, Fla., while serving as manager Gabe Kapler’s right-hand man on the bench.

“I kind of get lost in the players, in their excitement and their development, and how fantastic an opportunity they have,” Thomson added. “And when they do get to the big leagues or have a great career in the big leagues, how excited I am for them. So that keeps me going, and that makes it fun.”

Entering his 15th spring training vying for a roster spot with the Miami Marlins, Granderson has become a role player prized for his left-handed pop and widely respected clubhouse presence. He says he still finds joy in the little things and the big picture.

“I think it’s a mixture of knowing every day – especially in the winter, when you’re away from your teammates and away from the game and away from the fans – that I need to get up and get myself ready for this upcoming season. So whether that’s going to the gym, the batting cage, whatever the case is. And being excited about that makes it so that, once I do get a chance to play, that’s the fun part,” Granderson said.

“Also, it’s never been too much pressure to do a lot. I never imagined I’d play this long. I thought I’d play for two or three years, get drafted, get released, and then put my college degree to work. But they keep letting me come back, so I’m excited every day I get the chance to be out here.”

With pitchers and catchers playing catch in the sunshine and spring training baseball just around the corner, it’s a safe bet that fans of this pressure-packed kids game are feeling plenty joyous too.