DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Marcus Stroman wants to get the ball on Opening Day, and if he continues to pitch the way he did on Saturday against a split squad of Rays, the choice for the Blue Jays might be obvious.

Stroman was dominating in his second Grapefruit League start, going two perfect innings and striking out three in Toronto's 6-5 loss. He threw 29 pitches, 21 for strikes.

“Everything was working,” Stroman said. “I’m just getting ready for Opening Day.

“I feel great. This is just another part of the process. These games are meant to get you working, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Stroman had no trouble with the six batters he faced, and he capped off his effort with a strikeout of Rays third baseman Kean Wong that left him stumbling out of the batter’s box.

He went to the bullpen for additional work after his outing to work on some adjustments with his hand and release. He plans on raising his pitch count to 50-55 pitches in his next start.

“I get my best work done in the bullpen as far as repetitions; sometimes in the game it speeds up,” he said. “So I wanted to get down there and really hit home on a certain mechanical issue.”

Stroman displayed the sort of dominance that manager Charlie Montoyo wants to see from his rotation.

“He looks pretty good to me. That was his second outing,” Montoyo said. “We’re going to need him [in order] for us to compete.”

Both Montoyo and Stroman understand that the Blue Jays will be considered underdogs this year in the ultra-competitive American League East. They won’t be expected to compete with the Yankees or Red Sox for the division title, and the Rays, who won 90 games last season, will be among the teams competing for one of the Wild Card spots.

But with a promising young core of players, Stroman believes the Blue Jays can take a lot of positive strides this year.

“We’re all ready to compete,” he said. “We know what we’re going up against, but I think gives us a little bit more confidence and [a desire] to go out there and be the team that’s going to upset them day in and day out.

“There’s no problem being the underdog in certain situations. That kind of leads you to rise up and come out on top a lot of times. I like our guys. There are a bunch of young guys that are going to contribute right away. It’s just a matter of going out there and competing. I don’t think we can take a pitch off. I think we have to be all in every inning.”

After dealing with shoulder and hand injuries for much of last season, a healthy Stroman is set to return to the form he had in 2017, when he went 13-9 and finished eighth in AL Cy Young voting.

Stroman is also working on his chemistry with young catcher Danny Jansen. He said that Jansen is a tireless worker who spends extra time studying video and hitters, and putting together sound game plans for each start.

It’s a learning process between the two of them, but one that Stroman is enjoying.

“He’s been great. He’s had a great mix with me so far,” Stroman said. “I’m a guy that wants to get to all six of my pitches, so I told him we have to get in sync and get our repertoire going, but like I said, he wants to learn and go into games with a great game plan.”