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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS ROYALS

October 16, 2015

Ned Yost

Kansas City, Missouri - Pregame One

Q. Do you have a Game 4 starter yet?
NED YOST: No. This is Game 1. I said no.

Q. You had a lot of turnarounds before the last couple of series last year, and this time it was a quick one. Can you compare the two?
NED YOST: I like the quick one better than sitting around, it keeps you a little more active, guys, you know, don't have a chance. And I didn't feel like we got rusty at all last year in some of those longer delays. But it keeps everything flowing better.

The one day is great and gives your bullpen an extra day. Gives all the position players an extra day to kind of come in and move around a little bit with a light workout.

But three or four days of that you start to get antsy, so I'm glad we're going today.

Q. You had Yordano very young last year in the same kind of a scenario in the postseason. How much has he improved from last year to this year, and how much do you think the experience of last year will help him this year?
NED YOST: I think it's going to help him a lot. I think he's made great improvements from the beginning of the year on. And a lot of them were just learning how to deal through adversity and how to become a better professional. And I think he's learned those lessons really, really well.

The quality of stuff is the same. I don't think he's gotten any better in terms of his talent, but as a professional and as a competitor he's gotten a lot better. He's matured a lot, which is a good thing. Young guys go through some tough times up here. And the more you endure it, the more you learn from it, the better off you're going to be.

Q. Toronto was a .500 team when you had that series at the beginning of August, and they took off 42 and 18 down the stretch. What was different about the Blue Jays when you looked at them?
NED YOST: You know, they took off when they got really -- they got Revere, they got Price, they got Tulowitzki, those were three really big moves for them. But I think at that time, too, you saw that Donaldson got hot, Bautista got hot, and Encarnacion got hot. And that's an offense if it gets hot, they can put a lot of runs on the board at any time.

They're a very, very good team. They're a very dangerous team. And you just have to go out and execute. You've got to execute your pitches. You've got to execute when you have runners in scoring position and play good defense, try to limit your mistakes as much as you possibly can.

Q. You're going obviously with the same lineup again. You have good right/left balance there. Is that the sign of a well-built roster when you can have balance all the way up and down?
NED YOST: I feel it is. I think Dayton's done a good job of putting this team together. We look at our lineup, we've got a lot of confidence in our lineup. You can start a rally from anywhere in that lineup, one through nine, and sustain a rally anywhere one through nine. We like the way our lineup is constructed right now, and we think we can score runs with it.

Q. What do you remember from seeing Marco Estrada this year, and him being a fly ball pitcher, being in a park like this, does it help him?
NED YOST: It helps him. Sure it does. It helps all pitchers. This is a pitcher's park. He's a guy that commands the ball well, changes speed, he's aggressive inside with his cutter against lefties, and fastballs in. He does a real good job, from what I've seen, reading swings, knowing when to speed you up, knowing when to slow you down with his stuff. But command is what has impressed me most about him. His ability to command a baseball.

Q. This is a long time ago, but did you learn anything as a Met Minor Leaguer that stuck with you the rest of your career?
NED YOST: Nah, I don't think so.

Q. Were you surprised it wasn't Price for Game 1?
NED YOST: Nothing surprises me. Gibby has a good plan, like we feel we have a good plan. And there's reasons for everything. There's valid reasons for everything that a manager does. I just don't -- we don't know what it is. But I guarantee you, Gibby's got a good reason for it.

No, nothing surprises me. It's a seven-game series. First team to go out and win four is going to win. So that's what we're going to try to do.

Q. Tell me about your relationship with Gibby, and what he was like when you worked together.
NED YOST: I love Gibby. You guys that work around Gibby know what kind of person he is. He's a tremendous guy. He's a funny guy. He's a loose guy. He's a very smart guy. I didn't take in -- it was my fault, but I didn't take full advantage of Gibby when he was here. At that time I was still a little bit on the hardheaded side and managed the game all by myself. And here the last couple of years I've learned to include my coaches a lot more in the decision-making process and the end game decision-making process.

But Gibby was great to have around.

Q. Do you know how close Volquez, Cueto, and Yordano are. Coming off the big start for Cueto, what does it mean for those three to come into this series having that big game by Cueto?
NED YOST: I kind of relate it back to the days when I was with the Atlanta Braves and you had Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz, and one of those guys would have a big start, and the other ones would always have the mindset, Well, I'm going to go out and do just as good or better than he did.

It's always kind of like an inner competition within the competition, because they are so close. They all want to continue to hold up their end and pitch good baseball games.

What Johnny did the other day was huge for us, but I think Volqy knows that I want to go out and do the same thing. So does Yordano, so it should be interesting.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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