Glove work.

We won’t know until later today when KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles speaks after practice. But it sure looks like Baker Mayfield will start at Carolina on Sunday.

The Bucs wanted to see how Mayfield’s dislocated thumb responded to a full practice on Wednesday. He participated fully yesterday, so it seems the thumb didn’t have any negative reactions from a full day of throwing the ball Wednesday.

It has, however, taken a true team effort to get Mayfield ready to play. Not just the Bucs’ team, but a certain team with a crib in St. Petersburg which will be rather busy the next few days.

In developing a glove-like apparatus to help protect his thumb and allow Mayfield to throw, the Bucs equipment people consulted their colleagues with the Rays. Your American League champion Rays who are preparing for the World Series with begins tonight.

Mayfield explained how there is a “plate” in the thumb of the glove he will use that prevents the thumb from being bent backwards but still allows Mayfield to grip a snap, hand the ball off and throw the ball as he would normally.

“We went through all the scenarios, all the different things to possibly wear, and ended up being able to stitch a pad on the backside of the thumb to protect it from bending backwards again,” Mayfield said. “They’ve done an incredible job helping me out to get to where I’m at and ready to practice and go.”

Mayfield has said he has used a glove on his throwing hand before and the glove that the Bucs and Rays developed for him feels just like the time before he used a glove. He doesn’t feel encumbered or restricted.

“Like I said, trainers and equipment staff did an incredible job,” Mayfield said. “I mean, they even went to somebody that works with the Rays to be able to work on something specific that they’ve done in the past.

“For me, just getting used to it. I don’t feel the difference, it’s just like me wearing a glove.”

So since the glove fits, well, like a glove, no one should be using his glove as an out or an excuse for any wayward pass on Sunday, right?

If Mayfield is throwing the ball well — he apparently is — and is comfortable with the glove — he apparently is — we shouldn’t hear from anyone with the Bucs if Carolina wins or that Mayfield has a bad pass or two that the root cause was Mayfield’s glove.

Or thumb.

Right?