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NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 3, 2018

Mike Foltynewicz

Los Angeles, California - Workout Day

Q. Just talking on a few of the guys, was talking about how even though you're here and you guys think you can be the start of a long run, how you can't take anything for granted or assume anything and that you guys are here and going for the whole thing, not just content to be here. Is that the way you're approaching it?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Absolutely. I mean we've been underdogs all year really, so this is nothing new for us, we've been told. We definitely want to come out here and compete. We're not just here to say hey, we made it. We got a great team, great starting staff that we know we can play against good teams. We have been all year. So there's no expectations of that. But yeah, we're just going to take it one day at a time. And we definitely can come in here and make some noise, especially the way we've been playing on the road all year.

Everyone got a couple of days off the last few days, so kind of refreshed and ready to go. We're going to be excited, play with our hearts every game like we have been. But we're not just going to come in here and roll over. We're going to put up a fight.

Q. Mike, I think a lot of us expected you to get the start Game 1. But when Snitker finally told you, what was your emotion right?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: I was really not trying to think about anything just because I know how big a Game 1 of any postseason can be. So I was really just trying to relax these last few days, take my mind off it. But when they told me, it was just a sense of more confidence putting into myself. When someone says they want you to pitch Game 1, just all of the hard work overall the last two or three years to be able to be put in this spot is something I'm very confident and thankful in. And just going to go out there and pitch my butt off in Game 1.

Q. You guys are the last NL team to play a game this week, whether it was wild card or division. Was there any restlessness watching everybody else play?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Not really the sense of who we were playing, just the travel and where we were going to go from there and what to pack and all that fun stuff. It's just exciting to watch all -- especially the last game of the season, Game 163 against all four of those teams was dang exciting. It's what you wanted to see for baseball. But it's great to see all those games that we didn't really care who won or lost. We know anybody we're going to face is going to be a great team, a deep bench and great starting.

So we know anyone we're going to face -- we weren't pulling for anyone or anything like that. We're just excited to watch some great baseball and then travel to wherever we were playing, which happened to be LA, and then take it from there.

Q. Rest is obviously really hard to come by at this time of the year. Can it be hard to rev up for a game when you do have a little layoff?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: I don't think so, especially not at this point of the season. We had some great couple days off here, especially with the time change, we got a little extra rest and some sleep, and guys did whatever they needed to do. But I think at this point, rest is something we'll get in a couple weeks or whenever you're finished. But it's definitely not that hard to get pumped up. It's definitely easy to kind of get overpumped up and overexcited, which it's not really where you need to be at this point of the season and in Game 1. So we just need to find that happy medium, which I'm sure everyone can find and go from there.

Q. What's your assessment of this Dodgers lineup and what are the challenges of pitching to a group with that much power?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: I mean they got a bunch of lefties, which in the years past, I've kind of struggled with. And they got just great power from one to nine. Just like anybody we would have faced, they got great guys that can come off the bench. I think last time they were a little more patient with me, and they got their pitches to hit with runners on base and did their damage. So they can be both patient and aggressive, so you kinda gotta read the swings and game plans and we'll see from there.

But this lineup is deep. They get any pitch mistake, they can hit it over the wall. They got speed on the bases, so you just gotta hold your runners on and go out there and pitch your game and everything will work out for itself.

Q. Mike, nobody has picked you guys all year. Starting in Spring Training, you guys were picked to be fourth, fifth place. Did you guys use that as motivation this year? Did you kind of feed off that all year knowing that you guys were the underdogs all year?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Yeah, a little bit. I think no one kind of followed us until the end of the season. Really when we clinched, like you said, no one really picked us. We were kind of in the dark, which I think we liked it, and that also pumped us up a little bit. Just because we started off hot, no one thought that we would continue being that good and we did the whole season. We knew we were going to be that good in the beginning of the year.

So we weren't shocked or anything, but I know a lot of other people were saying we're a year early and all that stuff. We just got a great group of guys, ballplayers in there that like to win, love to win, and hate to lose. And you can definitely see that this year that was the outcome of the season. Yeah, I think we like it. It's no really pressure for us. It's a win-win situation.

Q. They have multiple guys over there who have been to multiple postseasons and know what it's all about and everything that it entails. In a way, can it be a bonus or a plus for you guys having so many kids, so many young guys, who have no clue about it, because all season they haven't been intimidated by anything. Do you think that can help them?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Yeah, just like you said, we're not scared of any teams out there. We've been competing with them all year, year in, year out. It's really fun this year. There's nothing we can really do but just go one day at a time. They've got a deep lineup. They know the ^ guys that have been there. And we have a lot of guys this year, too, that this is their first postseason, their first full year and they look stronger than ever at the end of the season. With this team, chemistry is going to be the biggest part. If we find ourselves in tough situations down the road here, how did we pick it up and keep the train moving and especially when we win, how do we kind of step on the throat and all that stuff.

But we've been doing it all year. We've been playing great baseball innings one through nine, and I think that's going to be huge coming into the playoffs. Just them having a couple of guys with some playoff time, take it as that, you're just going to have to go about your game plan as any other day. Just can't be make this a big deal, but we're just going to go out there and play our game and have fun.

Q. Clayton Kershaw typically starts Game 1 for the Dodgers. What was your reaction when you found out you would not be facing him?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: It wasn't really any reaction. They got -- like I said, not only is their lineup deep, they got great starting pitchers, too. So Game 1 or 2, he's going to be pitching against us no matter what. So I'll let the hitters talk to you about that one. So yeah, doesn't really matter. Anything can happen on any given day out there. So I'm just going to go worry about getting the eight, nine guys out on their team and let them try to do their magic against whoever they're going to start.

But no, there wasn't really any thought process going into knowing if he was going to start Game 1 against me or. I'm just trying to not let those guys score. That's going to be my objective for the game and let them do their thing.

Q. You were just referring to how you guys need to find the happy medium between not being overamped, and I know you've said in your own evolution as a pitcher, part of what helped you go to the next level was to realize that you don't need to throw as hard as you can on every pitch. So just speaking for yourself, how do you, when you get into this situation, Game 1 at Dodger Stadium sort of monitor that adrenaline?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Ever since my son came in February I've been using him as a big stepping block for me, especially when I'm on the mound, I got him tattooed on my finger, written on my glove. So when things do go south out there, I look at him and just breathe. I got a little breathing technique I have out there. So I step off the mound, do that little breathing technique and go from there. But I think just slowing things down when things go south out there has been really helping me out instead of going the other way trying to throw a thousand miles an hour. That's when I start walking people or leaving stuff over the middle of the plate.

But I think I've done a really good job this year of going out there and pitching instead of throwing, picking my times where I can throw 98, 99 and get an out, and I told a couple of other guys just knowing going out there and you're not going to give up a zero. You're not going to put up a zero every single start has really helped me go out and becoming more of a complete pitcher. And knowing I got eight guys out there helping me defensively and offensively, which they've done a great job all year. Those kind of things you put together out there when 40 or 50,000 people are yelling at you with the bases loaded, just slowing things down and thinking about my son has really helped me focus. And if we're going to miss, we're going to miss in a good spot and kind of go from there.

Q. What's your son's name?
MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ: Jet. J-E-T-T.

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