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NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERS

October 2, 2019

Walker Buehler

Los Angeles, California - pregame 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does it mean to you to start Game 1?
WALKER BUEHLER: Obviously kind of an honor and something along those lines. But around here I don't know if one, two or three really matters. It's more about pitching for this team in the playoffs. And I think the order's a little bit less significant than people want to make it out to be and I'm just excited to get to pitch.

Q. What did you learn about performing on this stage from last year's Game 1 in the postseason?
WALKER BUEHLER: Yeah, obviously in the actual playoffs I had kind of two bad ones and two good ones. And I think for me the biggest take away is if you get into that spot where it's not going so well, I think that saving bullpen, eating innings, and things like that is super important, especially when we have got limited rosters and a lot of games to play. So I think for me it's just trying to get deep into games and put up zeros is still the biggest thing.

Q. Last night that game between Milwaukee and Washington turned quite a bit. From your mental standpoint, were you watching that, were you studying both teams and when did that change and the emotions of it all?
WALKER BUEHLER: For the most part we were on the field a lot of that gam and you kind of get home and right when we flipped it on the big play happened and things like that. So I think you can watch and, well, we're going to play them or we're going to play them. I don't think it really matters, I think we have plenty of time to scout and do what we need to do. And, no, obviously, an exciting baseball game last night and we're looking forward to playing against the Nationals.

Q. Walker, when did you find out you were going to be the Game 1 starter and with guys like Ryu and Kersh, were you a little surprised, excited, what was your reaction?
WALKER BUEHLER: I think those kind of conversations need to stay within our clubhouse. Again, it's an honor for me to even pitch in the playoffs, so the order's kind of insignificant and we're looking forward to playing. I don't think that, no offense, I think those are things that need to be kept in-house and those are conversations that we have as a team.

Q. Around baseball it's become such a bullpen game for so many teams. What are your thoughts about the rotations that these two clubs are bringing to this series?
WALKER BUEHLER: I think it kind of in some way lends itself to old school baseball. I think that's how the game has always been played. And when you've got the six starters and the other starters on both teams are all really good, so just kind of is what it is. I think successful teams have to have good successful starting pitching. And whether that's, some teams want that to be five innings, some teams want it to be seven, we happen to be one of those that wants it to be seven to nine or whatever. I think these teams are in the playoffs for a reason and you're not going to get there without starting pitching.

Q. Where are you right now with your tinkering and how do you feel sort of coming out of everything?
WALKER BUEHLER: I'm nowhere different than I am all year. I tinker all the time and maybe it is my nervous tick and that's what gets me going, but it's not going to change, no.

Q. Along those same lines, how is it beneficial to you knowing that you're the type of person that can tinker in a game, at any point of the season, so if there's something that you wanted to change with your delivery, it doesn't make any difference what time of year it is going into this postseason.
WALKER BUEHLER: Yeah, I mean it's just who I am. I think I've always done that. I know the one story that kind of got out that people know about is the St. Louis start last year, which at the time was probably the biggest start of my career, and I threw a brand new slider.

So after that one went well, I think the confidence level or the acceptance of, hey, like, this is something that can happen and something that I can handle, I think all the kind of doubt went away after that. But I think what I'm doing now and the tinkering is a little bit overblown, I'm just working on things like I have my whole career.

Q. I'm wondering if you as a team and you as an individual carry what's happened the last two years with this franchise with you into the postseason and use it as fuel or is it something you try and suppress?
WALKER BUEHLER: I think every team is different and every team has its own personality. Obviously, the past two years and me really only being a part of one of those teams, I think is going to carry over in some way, but I don't think that it's going to affect us. I think this 25 or this 30 or this 40 that we have in the locker room is this one, it's 2019's. And we feel good about where we're at and we're going to move forward with that.

Q. It's not quite like an MLB debut, but are you going to have a lot of family and friends out here for this series?
WALKER BUEHLER: Somewhat. Last year in the playoffs we had a lot of people around that, a lot and were kind of all over the place. So this year probably not quite as many for this game tomorrow, but hopefully they will be around and my biggest focus is trying to get outs.

Q. Having been through your own postseason firsts, do you have any words of wisdom for a guy like Gavin Lux? And then just more generally what have you sort of, what has shown you in his time up here?
WALKER BUEHLER: I think that the thing I've been most impressed with Gavin is just the way that he is in the clubhouse. Obviously he's going to go up-and-down on the field and whether it was his first year or his 10th year, that's going to happen. But just his demeanor and the way he's carried himself I think has been really impressive and I think the biggest thing is you got to embrace it and understand that any failures that do happen or any mistakes that you make are going to be amplified, but at the same time the successes that you have are going to be amplified as well. So all in all it's the same game and the same plus/minus, it's just all going to feel a little bit bigger but some people are built for that and enjoy it and I think and we have certainly hope Gavin is going to be built for it.

Q. With Kershaw and Ryu what's your relationship with those guys like, what have you kind of observed in them maybe that you think makes them different and maybe what have you kind of picked up from them?
WALKER BUEHLER: I think kind of the legend of Clayton Kershaw is pretty well documented and pretty well written. And certainly well earned. So I don't really know if there's a whole lot I can say to really add to that conversation. And then Ryu, I think obviously the year he's had is pretty special. I think him being healthy and back and competing the way that he can has been a huge lift for us and getting to know him in the past two years has been pretty cool. Obviously it's a little bit tougher with the language barrier, but he's an awesome dude to be around and an awesome guy for us to have in the clubhouse.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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