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NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS VS NATIONALS

October 9, 2016

Kenta Maeda

Washington, DC - Pregame two

Q. Because of the rainout, has your schedule changed at all?
KENTA MAEDA: What I do in practice hasn't changed, but my flight back to L.A. has changed.

Q. When are you flying back to L.A.?
KENTA MAEDA: Immediately after this press conference (laughter). It's pretty close to flying out.

Q. I'm sure pitching tomorrow is going to be different than pitching in the regular season. Are there any thoughts you have going through right now?
KENTA MAEDA: In terms of how I've been preparing and thinking throughout my preparation, it hasn't changed. But I'm sure that when I stand on the mound tomorrow, I'm sure there's going to be more excitement and pressure.

So that's something I'm going to have to learn to control, but at the same time, I understand that a win is very different during the post-season than in the regular season.

Q. Obviously this was your first season in the Major Leagues. I know you came from a different pitching schedule in Japan. What was it like kind of getting used to everything and still getting the chance to get the extra day? I know they found opportunities to give you the extra day when they could.
KENTA MAEDA: The team, I'm sure, thought a lot about providing me with the extra rest, and that definitely contributed for me to have a pretty smooth season. But you know, in terms of getting those extra days of rest or not, it hasn't been an issue for me throughout the season.

Q. You had a lot of starts, but not necessarily a lot of innings. How do you feel physically at this point in the season?
KENTA MAEDA: You know, yeah, in Japan, I've been throwing 200 innings almost on a yearly basis. So 170 innings for me, I'm sure it has a lot to do with how I pitched throughout those innings, and because of that, I wasn't able to pitch deep into games.

But in terms of how I feel physically, 170 innings is not bad.

Q. There's been much said and written about the differences between pitching in Japan and pitching here. The schedule aside, how are you a different pitcher today than you would have been a year ago, and what sort of changes have you had to make, and what have you found out about yourself in that year in terms of -- as a pitcher?
KENTA MAEDA: In terms of how I pitch, my pitching style, I haven't drastically changed. I feel like I made pretty good adjustments in terms of the changes on the mound and the baseball.

Actually, in the beginning of the season, I was trying different things here and there, but what I decided to do was kind of stick to what I had been doing in Japan, which was throwing more four-seamers. I had been working on throwing the two-seamers during the beginning of the season, but I found out that I think I should be relying a little bit more on my four-seamer.

Q. I think you fared pretty well when you've faced teams for the first time. I don't think you've faced Washington before, do you think there's an advantage there?
KENTA MAEDA: I think during the regular season, I think it's good for me. But you know, with the post-season, everything changes, and I understand that the atmosphere, the environment is different.

So I think for the post-season, it's not going to benefit me as much as maybe it did during the regular season.

Q. During the regular season, you have to think a lot about how many innings you're pitching, but now that you're in the post-season, what kind of -- does that go away or what's your thoughts about -- do you think you'll go deep into games?
KENTA MAEDA: Even though it's the post-season, I'm going to pitch the way I did during the regular season. You know, I've tried pitching max effort in the first few innings because I've been told that during the post-season, that pitchers can be pulled out early. But I've done that in the past and it didn't quite work out.

So in terms of how I'm going to pitch today, or tomorrow, I'm going to pitch the way I always do and pace accordingly.

Q. How proud are you that you made all your starts this season? You were the only Dodger pitcher to make every single start.
KENTA MAEDA: It was an honor and I was happy that I was able to pitch throughout the whole season, and especially this year with a lot of injuries, there was no time for me to afford missing starts.

So in terms of making all my starts, I'm very happy and I feel like I'm a little bit more confident now.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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