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NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERS

October 2, 2019

Dave Roberts

Los Angeles, California - pregame 1

Q. What was your reaction when you found out last night it was going to be Washington and what factors went into making Walker the starter?
DAVE ROBERTS: Factors? I think, obviously, all three of our guys deserve the opportunity to pitch the first game of this, in the division series. We just felt that with Walker getting an opportunity to pitch the first game, also potentially a Game 5 gives us the best chance to win, regardless of the opponent.

Q. Who is going game 2?
DAVE ROBERTS: We haven't decided yet. We haven't decided to let everyone know.

Q. Walker said the order, in his opinion, is insignificant and that the three of those guys are relatively interchangeable. What conversations did you have with them and then did you agree with him that a lot of it's opponent, a lot of it is home versus road type of situation?
DAVE ROBERTS: The conversation that we had with all three guys, there was a little bit of home, road, opponent, potentially, but we had already made that decision regardless of the outcome last night. All three of those guys are on board with the decision that we made.

Q. I got to take a chance here. Since you've gone with 1 and 4, who is going to start 3?
DAVE ROBERTS: Kershaw or Ryu is going to start 3. I don't think the Nationals announced game 2 or 3, have they yet?

Q. Does the result of Game 1 affect who pitches Game 2?
DAVE ROBERTS: No, no, no.

Q. You've already decided?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah.

Q. How well do you think your offense stacks up to their pitching staff and vice versa, now that you have a clear cut opponent to be able to stack their lineup a certain way?
DAVE ROBERTS: Well if you look at Corbin, Strasburg, we haven't had a whole lot of success against those two guys. And I think that the success or limited success we have had against Scherzer, it's very limited still. He's still, obviously, an elite pitcher. I think it's, you look back at the starts, we have got more familiarity with Corbin, coming out of Arizona. And it's just, he's fastball, slider, and that's to the lefty, righty. And if we can keep him in the strike zone, it increases our opportunities. But if we're chasing below the zone, then it's going to be a long day for us. He's having a very good year.

And essentially it's the same attack for Strasburg. He's had his way with a lot of our guys, a lot of weak contact, high percentage of strikeouts. We have been victim to the changeup down below the zone. He gets ahead, he puts us away with a changeup, and lot of our guys haven't seen him well. So it's upon us to make adjustments, get him in the strike zone. Scherzer, yeah, we have seen him and he's always going to be tough to deal with.

Q. Julio's had a lot of stops and starts in his career. Where is he now and where is he on that totem pole as far as being a guy you want in high-leverage situations?
DAVE ROBERTS: Julio has done a tremendous job for us and the, whatever role we put him in, and his adaptability for a young player is remarkable. I certainly see him at a high-leverage situation regardless of handedness. This lineup in particular albeit very, very dangerous lineup, but I think Julio matches up with all these guys. So I think that this series, yeah, he could play pretty big.

Q. I think it's safe to say with the years Seager, Muncy, Bellinger have had there will be a little bit less of a platoon against a lefty in Corbin, so who are some right-handed bats we safely could see in the lineup tomorrow?
DAVE ROBERTS: Will Smith is going to catch, so there's a right-hander. You'll see Pollock in there. You'll see David Freese in there. You'll see Chris Taylor in there.

Q. Speaking of names here, who is your, you said there's going to be eight relievers. Would you be willing to name them right now?
DAVE ROBERTS: No. No benefit.

Q. Will we see Justin Turner in there?
DAVE ROBERTS: Justin Turner will be in there, yes, I'm sorry. Yes.

Q. So he still is ready to play?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yes, yes.

Q. You mentioned how often Corbin throws his slider, almost more than 50 percent of the time. Why do you think that pitch is still so effective even when guys can maybe expect it in certain counts?
DAVE ROBERTS: It comes out of the same lane, window. It's the same thing that makes Clayton so successful. You just can't see the spin and it just has, it obviously, it has more sweep than Clayton's does. But the point being is that it's hard, it's in that same window, and then it has the depth and the horizontal movement, it's just hard to pick up.

Q. You guys saw Juan Soto a few times during the regular season. Do you feel like he's a better hitter now than what you saw then as far as what you have seen on video and how do you get around not allowing him or Rendon beating you guys?
DAVE ROBERTS: I don't necessarily think he's a better hitter. I think that we pitched him well, we pitched him well, but he's, as far as looking over baseball, staying in the strike zone, he's top few in the game and it's amazing his age, given his age, the ability to look over the baseball, to slug to all fields, hit lefties, righties, cover the ball at the top of the zone. Yeah, you got to be very smart because if you make a mistake he can really hurt you. And you've obviously got Rendon behind him, so, yeah, that's a tough three, four to navigate, it really is. But they're one through four, five are as good as anybody in all of baseball. But, again, for a young player to have the plate discipline that he has, it's very rare.

Q. Patrick Corbin has been especially effective against lefties this year. Were his splits enough to give you any pause whatsoever about starting some of your usual left-handed hitters. I know you view these guys as every day players but the likes of --
DAVE ROBERTS: No, no, I think the way that Corey has come on, certainly in playing short stop. Obviously the year that Cody has had, the year that Max has had against left-handed pitching, overall, but against left-handed pitching in particular. So it was pretty easy.

Q. You said something last night, we were talking about somebody asked you about getting guys ready to go for the postseason mentally and you said, if anything, it's more of a challenge to get them going in the regular season. How do you keep them from looking so far ahead and July, August?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's just a constant or consistent message of just try to win a baseball game. I think our guys, fortunately, have bought into that. Because when you're sitting in July and you're thinking about trying to win a World Series it makes July and August and September, you get disinterested and that's not the way you kind of go into or finish a season out. So our guys, to their credit, that's why you win 106 games, by staying focused all year long and to their credit they have done that. But, yeah, they're looking forward to the postseason where every pitch is really more highlighted and has that much more importance. But I like where we're at.

Q. Has that been different the last three years, have any of the seasons felt different in that way?
DAVE ROBERTS: No, no, I think that even looking at, I think it was, obviously, last year we got out of the gate slower as far as on the win/loss. But I still, I don't believe that it was because we just didn't want to come out and play hard, we just didn't win baseball games. But I do think that the consistent messaging is important from myself, from players themselves. And I think that if you look at the four years that I've been here we have been pretty consistent like that, I think. We have had success in the postseason and some unsuccessful times, but right now where we're at health wise, the mindset, all that stuff, we're in a good spot.

Q. When you look at some of the star power of starting pitchers that are in this series, does it feel like a little bit of a throwback to you in an era where bullpens are so important or is this still a game that's about starting pitching?
DAVE ROBERTS: It's about starting pitching. That's a good question. I think that, obviously, you're talking a lot in recent postseasons about bullpening and third time through and all that kind of stuff. But if you look at the Nationals, I think, obviously, the Astros and us, it's heavy reliance, this year, on starting pitching. So I know Davey and I know the confidence that he has in his starters and he's going to rely on those guys and as am I with our guys. So it is sort of -- but having the support of eight very competent guys in the pen that we have, I feel very comfortable with matches going forward.

But the three guys we're going to run out there, again, I really have a lot of confidence in where we're at, but, yeah, there's certainly a little ode to the old school sort of starters and get after it.

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