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NL WILDCARD GAME: ROCKIES VS CUBS

October 2, 2018

Bud Black

Chicago, Illinois - pregame

Q. The roster construction for these games are always kind of interesting because of the single elimination. Can you explain you guys' thought process and maybe some of the tougher decisions on the fringes of what you want to do tonight?
BUD BLACK: Well, our team, for us, there was a couple. I don't want to -- whether we might have added another pitcher and one less position player. But our team is sort of what it is. There wasn't -- there wasn't a lot of like super hard decisions as far as who was going to be on the roster.

I know a lot of teams are different. Some other clubs might have a few more tough decisions based on the -- maybe some of the experience and tenure of their roster, but in our case, it was pretty straightforward.

Q. I know you're big on experience. Jon Lester has a lot of big game experience. Kyle has no postseason experience.
BUD BLACK: Right. Isn't that great?

Q. It is great. And I think I know how you're going to answer this, but knowing Kyle as you've come to know him, do you think he's up for the big moment?
BUD BLACK: Yes. We talked about it yesterday with German. I think you asked the same question maybe worded differently, but I feel the same about Kyle and how he's going to go about it today. I think as a group, me personally, the coaching staff, his teammates are not worried about the lack of experience in postseason with Kyle. I think -- and you've heard me say it many times. He's built the right way, and whatever happens tonight won't change my opinion on that.

Q. I wanted to talk about DJ LeMahieu and his role in getting you to this point, especially the power that he showed from about August on?
BUD BLACK: Well, he's been one of our most consistent performers all year. I think with DJ, you have a steady, dependable player who goes to the post and gives you an effort to win a game. I think that's the thing that stands out for me most about DJ is the ultimate outcome for him as it relates to his performance is helping us win, and that's the thing that I think is so special about DJ, is that when the game starts, he plays the game to win, and how his skill set helps us do that, whatever that might be, whether that's defensively, whether it's with the bat, moving a runner, getting a bunt down, hit and run, knocking in a big run, hitting a homer, whatever it might be. He's about a W, and that's what makes DJ special.

Q. You talked a lot this season about what your team has kind of drawn from last year's Wild Card game. I'm curious about you personally. Did you take something away from that game specifically, and does this feel any different to you?
BUD BLACK: No, it feels the same. It really does. I think, again, being in playoff games either as a player, coach in Anaheim, last year, there's something to that. But until the game unfolds, we don't know exactly how we're going to -- from our standpoint, the coaches and I, how we're going to do things. The game a lot of times dictates that. But from a player's point of view, experience is the best teacher, and going through it last year, so many of our players I think are in a good frame of mind. I think they were in a great frame of mind last year, but I think probably this year may be a little bit more poised. Maybe they're excited but maybe not to the point of excitement taking over the body. I think they're in a good spot. I thought they were in a great spot yesterday, too. I really did.

Q. Your friend Joe over in the other dugout talked about playing the game here in Chicago as opposed to out on the moon in your place.
BUD BLACK: Did he say "moon"?

Q. Yes, he did.
BUD BLACK: Nice.

Q. One game, does home field make more difference, less difference, exactly the same difference?
BUD BLACK: I would -- if you were to really press me, I'd say that there's something to playing at home. But it's not the end-all. I mean, statistically we could probably do the math, right, in our sport and come up with a percentage of home team wins, et cetera. But again, it's truly how you play that game. It really does, both on the mound, in the field and at the plate.

But I mean, stats will tell you that there is an advantage. How slight it is, I'm not sure. How big it is, I don't know. But I know this -- and I said this to the guys yesterday after the game, that this is a great ballpark and a great city of sports fans. I said, going to Chicago and playing in this environment is going to be great. It's going to be cool.

And I told our guys to enjoy it. Turn the page from today's game, let's go to Chicago and enjoy this experience and play a good game.

Q. Staying on the subject of Joe, he was telling the story of how he came to call you "Pepe Negro". I was wondering what your memory of that story is and if you have any stories about Joe that you remember.
BUD BLACK: Well, yeah, that was our first year down in Spring Training with the Angels. I mean, Joe had been there -- we had a Spring Training game in Hermosillo. After the game we were signing autographs and giving our hats and other items up to the crowd who had stayed after to see the players and get autographs. Joe's recollection is pretty correct about what transpired. I'm not sure exactly what he told you -- what did he say?

Q. He said there was a fan (indiscernible).
BUD BLACK: Right. Well, they said -- you know, Joe is next to me, and he's signing. People are talking, and somebody threw their hat down, and I was signing -- I signed "Bud Black", and they said, cÃ³mo se llama? And I said, "Bud Black". And they said, quÃ©? And I said something to the fact of Pepe Negro, and Joe overheard it, and then Joe made a reference to -- I made a reference to Joe earlier about when I was in Caracas, Venezuela playing winter ball, we had won the World Series in Hermosillo, and there was some dialogue going back and forth between Joe and I, and somewhere in there, the nickname was coined. But it was fun. We had a long laugh about that.

Q. Since that sweep in LA in September, there's been a high emphasis on winning to keep it in the standings to make sure you got to this point tonight. Has that sharpened mentally for a one and done game like this?
BUD BLACK: You know, when we went to Arizona, I sensed it. There was a heightened awareness because you could see the light at the end of the tunnel, right, with 10 games to go. And we knew where we were in the standings. And we pitched outstanding in Arizona, and I thought we were starting to swing the bats better.

But I sensed the focus tightened. The effort level didn't, but -- because I think our effort level stays at a pretty high level all the time, which is something we talk about. But the focus might have been a little tightened, which was, I think, sort of player driven because, again, you've heard me talk about our baseball IQ. They were ready for those last 10 games because we knew where we were and what was at stake.

To your point, I think it sharpened it, and it continued through that series where we won in Arizona, came back, played the Phillies and then had the series against the Nationals. Our guys were ready for that challenge of coming back from a couple games behind the Dodgers and catching them.

Q. Obviously the travel has been difficult for you guys. Everyone knows that. Is there any way to either minimize that impact or somehow use it to your advantage?
BUD BLACK: Well, I mean, it turned out how it turned out, right? Denver to LA, LA to here. There's nothing that can be said about what had happened. But think about it, players do find that energy when they get to the ballpark, and these types of games and these environments energize players.

Whatever happens tonight, there's a day off tomorrow, which will be a good thing for I'm sure both teams. I'm sure the Cubs will say the same thing because they play -- they've played consecutively at the end, also. They played last Thursday, where a lot of teams were off, and we played, as well. So there was a 10-game-in-a-row stretch there for the Cubs and for us.

But there's really no way around it. It's part of -- I say it all the time. The conditioning that we go through as players, and it starts as early as the Minor Leagues, as a Minor League player, some of the bus rides and some of the Triple-A travel flights and all those things condition you for these types of games. You become conditioned to -- you know what time the bus is, what time BP is, what time first pitch is, and just as players, I don't want to say you're robotic, but you just sort of keep fighting through all that stuff and you go play.

Q. Matt Holliday, your thoughts of him in the lineup today, and also, he was sitting at home a couple months ago; how cool is that?
BUD BLACK: Yeah, it's a great story. I've talked about the reunion as being special, I think for both the Rockies and for Matt. This was something that was in the works in the middle of the summer when I'm not sure who reached out first, whether we did or Matt did, and they started talking as far back as midseason, July maybe or even in June, because I know that Jeff -- it was on the radar with Matt. I think it was on the radar just from his conditioning program through the early part of this year, back home in Florida. I think he wanted to make something happen.

When it came to a conclusion of he's signing with us, it was great. I think Matt was all in, and I think we were all in to see how it was going to transpire, and sure enough, he looked great up in Grand Junction or he looked great at that workout down in Florida with some scouts and then Grand Junction and eventually in Albuquerque, and all the reports we got from everybody that put eyes on him, hey, man, he's ready to play. And since he's come, there's been a -- there's a presence to this guy that is -- you can feel it.

And he's done such a great job of acclimating so quickly. He'd known some players. He'd known obviously a lot of clubhouse guys, trainers, a lot of people in the organization, so that was an easy part for him. But then being alongside Nolan, DJ and Charlie, guys he had known but not really known, it was a quick acclimation, and he's been a big part of our club.

And I think more importantly, the performance has been there, and I think as far as it relates to tonight's game, I think it just -- we didn't score yesterday against Buehler. Lester is tough on lefties. Matt has a history, even though it's been lengthened out over time against Lester, a lot of at-bats. He knows this ballpark, out there in left field here is something that he's comfortable with. So let's get him in the middle of the lineup and maybe a couple big swings, a couple good at-bats helps jump start some runs for us.

But it made a lot of sense last night. Immediately after the game the coaches and I talked about it, and it was for us a no-brainer.

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