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AL DIVISION SERIES: RAYS VS ASTROS

October 4, 2019

George Springer

Houston, Texas - pregame 1

Q. George, having been to a lot of playoffs, how do you feel about this one with your team going in now?
GEORGE SPRINGER: It's exciting. I think every year is a new challenge. Every year, you've got some guys who are new, some guys who aren't. And I love this team. I love our chances.

So it's exciting, but, you know, we have to take it one step at a time and we'll see what happens.

Q. What do you think of the new weapons you've added, like Kyle Tucker?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I love it. He's obviously going to be a big bat for us. He's a great player. So I'm excited that he's on the roster, excited to have him here. Look forward to having him out there.

Q. George, obviously, there's a lot of talk about the pitching that the Astros have in this series. What's your view of the other side of it, what the Rays have, starting-wise, and, obviously, the depth of that bullpen?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I think that they've got three horses: They've got guys who they can rely on; they've got guys who aren't fun to face. I've obviously had to face them before. I know what they can do. Between Glasnow, Snell, and obviously Chuck, it's not a fun three to face.

So our team knows who has the ball for them and they have an extremely deep bullpen. And it's not necessarily fun to face either. So it's going to be a grind. Going to be a fight.

Again, at the end of the day, we'll see what happens.

Q. George, you've played with and faced a lot of great pitchers. What do you think separates Verlander and Cole from the whole rest of the league this year?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I think how smart they are. The amount of pregame work that goes into it. The amount of information that they're armed with. They -- what in the world is that?

Anyways -- this is our lucky bug here -- the way that they go about it, that they think so much out there. They do so much behind the scenes to prepare themselves to go face a lineup.

You add in being smart, kind of understanding what they want to do with the stuff that they have is, I think, you know, a big part of why they've been so good.

Q. Huge bug.
GEORGE SPRINGER: Huge bug. That's our lucky bug, I guess.

Q. George, with all your postseason experience, what's important for you in these games? Do you do anything different, different routines, or just try to stay the same?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I try to ignore the bug that's over to my left and pretty much just do -- that's awesome. I try to do the same thing. This is why you play the game as a player. You play it for the playoffs, and you can't try to treat it as anything different.

I think the best advice I've ever gotten was from Skip before the World Series was that this is the best time of your playing life so you might as well go out and enjoy it, not try to press and, honestly, whatever happens at the end of the day happens.

So just do everything like you normally do it. I did wake up a little bit earlier today, but that's just because Mike made me drive earlier. Other than that, pretty much the same thing.

Q. No flat tires?
GEORGE SPRINGER: Not yet. I mean, I maybe should have sabotaged it because the last time we got one, he hit pretty well. But no flat tires today.

Q. George, why is Charlie Morton so beloved by your team now that he's wearing another uniform?
GEORGE SPRINGER: Just who he was. I love him as a person. He wants the best for his teammates, and he wants to go perform for us, them, us, whatever the case. He doesn't care about individual anything. It's, I want to do my best for the guys.

And to play behind somebody like that is pretty special. He's probably one of the funniest guys you'll never hear about. He says some funny, funny things and it's been a pleasure to have him over here. I wish he still was, but he's on the other side now so I'm going to make a big smile at him in game 3 and we'll see what happens.

Q. George, this team has always been pretty good at hitting, slugging, but also not striking out a ton. Michael Brantley is kind of the king of contact, quality contact. What have you learned from him and how has his approach kind of accentuated a strength you already have?
GEORGE SPRINGER: He's a professional hitter. He's, in my opinion, he's the last of a dying breed. This year, he went, like, 23 at-bats or something like that without swinging and missing. And that's impressive, in my eyes. He's one of the only guys that I've played with that will just hit the ball where it's pitched and doesn't care much about the distance, the exit velo, the launching, anything like that. To him, a hit's a hit. He just tries to have a good, quality at-bat.

I've learned by just watching that. Just by seeing the way he goes about his day, the way he prepares his approach every day is really, really simple. And you add that to a team that likes to try to control the zone, doesn't really swing outside the box that much, and it's a pretty special thing to watch.

The bug's still going. Don't do it! Just let it ride.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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