At the end of the 2020 MLB season, no pitcher will stand precisely where Jason Motte stood in 2011. Sure, there may be a Game 7 in the World Series. And if there is, someone will have to occupy the mound and get the last out before the champagne can be uncorked.

But when Motte pitched the ninth inning at Busch Stadium in the Cardinals’ 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, it was his 100th game of the season — counting spring training, regular season and postseason. Not that he knew it at the time.

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It was only later, when he counted, that he realized that was his 100th appearance of the year — a number no pitcher will approach in this pandemic-altered 60-game regular season.

“I wasn’t thinking it was my 100th game,” Motte said of Game 7. “I was thinking we’re up by four runs and let’s get three outs.”

He was in the moment. It’s the mindset that Motte says most players will bring to this abbreviated season, which begins Thursday night with the New York Yankees playing the Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants playing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Much has been said and written about the urgency that comes with a 60-game season instead of the usual 162 games. But Motte, who now spends some of his time as the pitching coach at Christian Brothers High School, says that assumption overlooks most players’ automatic setting: Namely, that the cliché about playing them one at a time is a cliché for a reason.

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Whether it’s the 126th game of 162, or the fifth game of 60, he said, “You’re trying to win. It’s not like, `Oh, it’s OK if we lose today.’ ”

That said, a “sprint” season should make it easier for a player to be pedal-to-the-metal each day. Motte had that approach under the old marathon schedule.

“Kinda how I did it anyway,” he said, “which might not have been smart at times. Usually I went until I couldn’t lift my arm.”

For each team, there will be no time to waste. In 2019, the Cardinals started 31-29 through their first 60 games, sitting in third-place in the National League Central Division. They ultimately would win the division and advance to the NL Championship Series.

The team they met there — the Nationals — had gotten off to a 27-33 start. They rebounded to gain a wild card berth, beat Milwaukee 3-2 in a division series, then swept the Cards out of the NLCS, and defeated the now-hated Houston Astros 4-3 in the World Series.

“The Nationals last year won the whole thing because of how they finished,” Motte said.

But in a 60-game season, there’s no coming from off the pace. Better to set the pace and try to carry it all the way through the finish line.

A few players, including the Giants’ Buster Posey, who has newly adopted twin baby girls, have opted out of the season because of COVID-19 concerns.

Motte was 26 when he made his major-league debut in 2008. He would pitch nine seasons and in 2012 save a NL-leading 42 games for the Cardinals. Early on, he says he wouldn’t have worried about playing amid a pandemic.

“When it was just me and my wife, I’d been, `Yeah, let’s go,’ ” he said.

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“After the kids, I may have weighed the risks. And being away from the wife and kids when I was rehabbing from Tommy John (elbow surgery), I went 40-something days without seeing my wife and daughter and it was brutal.”

He’s looking forward to baseball returning with games that count and is glad for old teammates that are still playing. But it will be weird not having fans at the games.

Baseball was not built for silence. Fans can lift a home team, especially in a place like Busch Stadium. But even on the road, a visiting player can draw energy from the crowd.

“Being a Cardinal coming into Wrigley Field, a Dodger going to San Fran, a Yankee going into Boston, you’re running in from the bullpen and people are screaming some not-so-nice things, and you’re like, `OK, let’s get after it,’ ” Motte said.

Whether the lack of organic fan noise — MLB will pump in the fake stuff, even allowing fans to use an interactive map to somewhat dictate cheering — will make it easier or more difficult to concentrate will be a personal thing.

Motte said he heard the crowd, but also didn’t, a conflicting statement that only makes sense if you’ve stood where he’s stood — in the center of it all.

“There’s a moment of peacefulness out there,” Motte said, “when you get in your zone and do your thing and you don’t hear anything.”

This year, there won’t be near as much to hear. But there will be baseball to see. Motte is happy for it, but doesn’t see it as anything more than it is: a momentary diversion.

“I’m glad baseball is gonna be played, but there’s still a pandemic,” he said. “It takes your mind off it for a little while; it’s not like watching baseball makes you go, `Oh, everything’s fine.’ ”