Peak newsletter 🧠 | This is The Athletic’s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports. Sign up here to receive the Peak newsletter directly in your inbox.I can’t think of another role in sports like that of a closer in baseball.They sit around, watch the game, wait their turn and then enter for the final outs only if their team has the lead.If they close out the win, they’ve simply done their job. If they blow the save, they’re the story of the game.They don’t decide every game, but they also don’t appear in many games where they don’t play a deciding role.It’s a tremendous amount of pressure. Imagine if a basketball player came in only to take game-deciding shots in the final minute. Or if a golfer stepped onto the green only for the tournament-winning putt.Consider all of that when you read this quote from former closer Eric Gagne: “I love to suffer.”Gagne once said that to a mental performance coach, who then told it to me. I was so interested that I texted Gagne to see if he would explain that mindset.Our conversation was one of those little moments that remind me why I love this job.Before I go any further, some context on Gagne: For a time, he was among the most dominant closers baseball has ever seen. During a stretch that lasted nearly two years, from August 2002 until July 2004, Gagne recorded 84 consecutive saves for the Dodgers without blowing a game.