WATCH: Jack Flaherty’s cinema-themed hype video ahead of first start is pure goosebumps

Jack Flaherty is locked in for his first start of the season, channeling his inner Joker before he takes the mound against the Blue Jays on Saturday.

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in their Opening Day game at home, but the excitement for the Cardinals to push the limits in the NL Central this year are still sky-high. They got just a little bit higher when Jack Flaherty took to Twitter to share an epic hype video ahead of his first start.

Opening Day may be behind us. There’s not quite as much pregame fanfare as there is for games until the postseason, but for pitchers, they have an increased level of excitement and anticipation for their personal opening days, if they don’t get the nod as the game-one starter of a new season.

Flaherty is channeling one particular character before his Saturday start: The Joker. And to be more specific, the Heath Ledger Joker, one of the most iconic movie portrayals of all-time.

Jack Flaherty shares hype video before first start, inspired by the Joker

Here’s the hype video Jack Flaherty shared out on Saturday:

It features scenic shots of St. Louis, soundbites of analysts talking about him and the Cardinals, and then shots of the Joker and scenes from The Dark Knight, primarily centered on scenes that featured Ledger’s Joker portrayal.

He captioned it, “the people’s champ must be everything the people can’t be” with a Joker emoji.

Flaherty might be a nice due, but he doesn’t seem to be holding back any punches with his mindset going into game two of the year for St. Louis, and his first on the bump. Taking inspiration from one of the most sinister movie characters ever is, well, making it very clear what you set out to do on the mound.

St. Louis looks to bounce back up to 1-1. Miles Mikolas got the start on Thursday and didn’t fare well, giving up 10 hits and five earned runs in a high-scoring game.

Last season, Flaherty had a 4.25 ERA in nine games (eight starts) with a 2-1 record. A free agent after this year, he should be motivated to perform at his highest possible level after some injury-defined years in 2022 and 2021.