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MLB WORLD SERIES: CUBS VS INDIANS

October 27, 2016

Josh Tomlin

Chicago, Illinois - Workout day

Q. I just wondered if everything is cool with the plan for dad to come?
JOSH TOMLIN: Yeah, he's here. Or he'll be -- I don't know when he's flying out, but he should be getting here later tonight, so it will be good to get to see him later tonight and have dinner with him and then get to work tomorrow.

Q. I wonder whether you can take us through your struggles in August, what you found out about it, and how you turned it around? Was it mostly the increased use of your curveball?
JOSH TOMLIN: I don't know if it was just the increased usage of the curveball or just the execution of pitches on the edges of the plate. In the month of August I got kind of relying on a two-pitch mix to one side of the plate, and guys could just sit out and keyhole one side of the plate. When you get Major League hitters doing that and they can eliminate one side of the plate, it turns that pitch middle-middle, and they can do some damage to that.

And the execution of my pitches wasn't where it needed to be. I was leaving balls over the middle of the plate, and guys were taking advantage of that, getting in bad counts. When you're not overpowering guys and you're not inducing early contact and getting early outs, they can kind of sit on one side of the plate and they can do some damage on you.

Q. This is obviously the biggest of the big stages tomorrow night. Just your general thoughts on the opportunity of pitching in a World Series game?
JOSH TOMLIN: Oh, it's awesome. I think us as a team, we've earned this right. So we're going to enjoy it, but we also need to go out there, play relaxed and not get complacent about just being here. We need to go out there and play our style of baseball and try to win games.

But it's an honor to be here. It's an honor to be playing the Cubs and we're going to enjoy the moment.

Q. Tito mentioned it's probably going to be kind of a you-against-the-world thing tomorrow. I just wondered how you feel about that, and how you judge the mood of the team coming here?
JOSH TOMLIN: Oh, I think the mood of the team's fine. This isn't the first time we've lost a game. So we've got to come back tomorrow and play our style of baseball. But I try not to get too involved in the outside pressure of what people who are against us or for us. My job is to go out there and throw strikes, try to get early contact, and try to help this team win a game.

So, you know, there's no more added pressure on the outside of what I put on myself. So, you know, that against the world, it is what it is. I don't really pay much attention to all that stuff.

Q. I don't know how much you look at spin rates or things like that, but midway through August with your curveball there was a dramatic increase in the spin rate and in the movement on the pitch. Did you change anything with the grip or your method of throwing it or how do you explain that?
JOSH TOMLIN: I don't know. I don't know. I don't really look into that spin rate kind of stuff. I think TB (Bauer) knows more about that stuff than I do. I wasn't trying to do anything different with it as opposed to just trying to -- you hear the phrase get-me-over curveballs and you hear the phrase of 0-2 curveballs. For me it was just going through that phase of not trying to throw it for a strike. It was just trying to rip it down in the zone as much as I can. And I think the more you throw it in the course of the games, you kind of fill that slot a little bit better, and you kind of feel more comfortable with it, so it just naturally kind of gets better. That old phrase, if you don't use it, you lose it. I think that kind of goes a long ways sometimes.

But you find a slot, you find an arm angle that you're comfortable with, and you kind of get comfortable on the mound ask kind of settle in, it feels better.

Q. You said when you were a kid you pretended you were pitching in the World Series. Did you pretend you were a hitter as well? What's that going to be like to get to swing the bat tomorrow night?
JOSH TOMLIN: It will be cool, but my main focus is pitching and trying to pitch as deep as I can in a ballgame and try to help this team win. The hitting part's pretty cool to be involved in the whole game as opposed to just one side of it. But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself going out there. I'm going to try to have fun with it, but there's a chance that that could help win a ballgame. So I'm going to try to take pride in it as much as you can.

There's going to be a scenario where you have to bunt or hit-and-run or something like that. So you have to take pride in it, work at it, and still try to get good at it. But my main focus is definitely on pitching.

Q. Tito mentioned that he was going to go after tomorrow's game with Corey and Trevor and you on three days' rest. What's the challenge of that this time of the year? Is it mostly the fatigue factor?
JOSH TOMLIN: No, I don't think there's -- I mean, at this point in the season I don't think fatigue -- think adrenaline takes over when you get into the game. You might not feel as good going out there and warming up. But once you get between the lines and you know the job you have to try to accomplish and trying to help this team win, I think that adrenaline kind of takes over, and it's just another game.

After this series, this is it. So we have a lot of time to rest after that. I think if you were to ask any of us right now, we'd pitch every single day if we had to. It's just one of those things where you're trying to do everything you can to help this team win.

Q. Obviously you know about the excitement here in this city for this game. They haven't had a World Series game since 1945. Probably your father wasn't even born in 1945. I'm just wondering, how do you feel the atmosphere's going to be here tomorrow night? I know it's not your home park, but you know what baseball's like. And is there a part of you that's glad? Is there a part of you that's glad for the long-suffering Chicago fans?
JOSH TOMLIN: I don't think that's a question I want to answer.

Q. I said, do you want them to leave their -- I know you want them to leave unhappy --
JOSH TOMLIN: Yes, I want them to leave unhappy, but it's going to be a crazy atmosphere. You know, they have a great fan base, and we know that. So do we. So it's loud when we play. It's going to be loud tomorrow. It's just another game with a certain type of atmosphere that you don't get in the regular season. So it will be a lot of fun.

Q. What's it going to mean for you just to have your dad here tomorrow night?
JOSH TOMLIN: Oh, it means a lot. He hasn't been to a game in quite a while, and it wasn't looking like he was going to get to come to a game at all. So to have him here and just to be able to see him is the thing I'm most looking forward to. But the fact that we get to experience the World Series together is pretty neat.

Q. Have you pitched here before? And what kind of challenges do you think it presents, Wrigley Field, if the wind is blowing out, as I think it's supposed to be doing?
JOSH TOMLIN: I've never pitched here, no. But I've seen one game here. We had a makeup game last year here, I think. I was on the DL the first time they came here.

But the stuff you can't control, is stuff I'm not going to concern myself with at the moment. My job is to keep the ball down in the zone and try to induce groundballs and quick outs and try to keep them off the barrel. Whether the wind's blowing out, in, sideways, up, I don't know. I really don't care. My job is to go out there, pound the strike zone, get outs as quick as I can, and that's it. I can't control myself with what the wind's going to be doing.

Q. Josh, who is better at Cribbage, you or Mike Napoli?
JOSH TOMLIN: That's me, of course, you know that (laughing).

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