	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROS

October 26, 2019

Max Scherzer

Washington, D.C. - pregame 4

Q. Back in the day, and it was a long time ago, starting pitcher would go Games 1, 4, and 7. Is that past? Will it ever happen again and why not?
MAX SCHERZER: If I remember correctly, didn't Corey Kluber do that? So I guess it's still possible.

Q. It seems like the questioning when it comes to facing the same team twice within a series, it always seems to suggest that the advantage goes to the hitters for seeing the pitcher again. What have you personally learned about how to adjust seeing a team multiple times within a series?
MAX SCHERZER: Yeah, I mean, it's just going to be a challenge. I think the only advantage of this is that I don't face the Houston Astros that much. In the National League that kind of happens a little bit more once you start getting ten at-bats then I think that kind of equals out and maybe a hitter gets a little bit more advance because they understand what you're going to do to them.

I still feel that I could execute better and give their hitters just a little bit different look even though they did get to see me pitch against them and what it looks like.

No matter what, it's always going to be a battle.

Q. Davey just sort of said Kurt's status is up in the air right now. Can you describe his importance for what you do, preparation-wise in sort of the run you've gone on?
MAX SCHERZER: Yeah, I mean, we've worked really well together, just being in sync of what pitch to throw and even in big situations. But I've also worked with Yan this year several times. Even when Zuke was down there in September, there was a handful of games where I was throwing to Yan.

And so we do have a rapport with each other, we do understand what's going on. And Yan is very astute to the game of being able to watch what's going on and how I sequence guys and what we want to do. He's catching tonight so he's going to be able to see whatever is going on, get his feet wet.

I feel comfortable throwing to Yan, as well.

Q. Obviously they're so good at laying off pitches off the plate. After your last start you said you couldn't afford taking a chance of leaving something over the plate. Facing them again, can you stick with that or at some point do you have to figure out a way to throw more effective strikes over the plate and hope for the best?
MAX SCHERZER: The game will dictate that. The scoreboard will dictate.

That. You've got to just get into the flow of the game, and understand where everything's at, where you're at in the lineup, who's up, score of the game, inning, pitch count, you name it. That all just goes into the same thing. You just have to have your instincts out there and work with the catcher and just figure out what you want to do.

Q. Obviously it's very clear how a starter can set a tone for a team on the day he pitches. I wonder how you've learned through the years to set a tone on the days you don't pitch for the team, and whether or not it's possible for a starter who we all know leads the rotation, to cut across the aisle and lead the clubhouse?
MAX SCHERZER: I think it's just having fun and setting the tone that you're accountable for everything you do in between your starts, as well. Grinding just as hard as you possibly can to put yourself in position to be able to go out there and when it is your day, to pitch as well as you can. But in order to pitch as well as you can, it takes the other four days to be able to do that.

And just being on the bench, being in the game, locked into every situation. One of my favorite things to do on the bench is always talk about base running with all the guys. I personally hold myself just as accountable as all the other position players, that if I make a mistake on the bases, it's inexcusable, just like I feel it's inexcusable for them to make mistakes on the base paths.

So for me, I'm always trying to read different situations, how would you run the bases in this situation. And actually, really, Dozier is really my favorite guy to talk to about that. He's come up with some different scenarios where I never even thought about where you can take an extra base.

So that's what makes it fun being on the bench with those guys.

Q. When you guys went out and got Patrick Corbin, were you thinking he was a guy this team was going to pursue, and what have you learned about him as a pitcher that makes him so effective?
MAX SCHERZER: Well, yeah, obviously talking to our front office after the season of the areas they wanted to address, obviously they wanted to address starting pitcher. I didn't know which facet, where they were going to go after. And obviously the reports were coming out that we were in heavy pursuit of Patrick.

What I've learned about him as a pitcher, he just has a really, really, really good feel for teasing the zone with his sinker and his slider. You can be looking for either and his slider is just so -- just watching it for this whole year, it's just very, very deceptive. And he knows how to locate it and throw it kind of different ways that makes you chase it, that you just think that it's a fastball and then you're just swinging at something that's a slider.

So he does a really good job of controlling the edges of the plate, whether it's a lefty or righty, and that's what makes him so difficult to hit against.

Q. Are you still at all managing the issues that kept you on the IL during the season or do you feel like it's completely flushed?
MAX SCHERZER: The back issues?

Q. Yes.
MAX SCHERZER: The back issues are fine. All those back issues I have to really address in the offseason of how I'm going to train and everything. So I've been dreaming up different things I might be doing this December and January to really address that.

Q. It's going to be you and Gerrit Cole round 2 tomorrow but this time with NL rules. I wonder if you think it is a benefit that the AL pitcher, Cole, in this case, coming in, didn't really bat much this year. I know he batted in Pittsburgh. Does that sort of present you a benefit at all because it's your home turf, and is that something you kind of enjoy at all pitching to a fellow starting pitcher?
MAX SCHERZER: The fact that he played in the NL for quite a while, so he understands the preparation it takes to be an NL pitcher. But pitching in the AL a bunch, the NL pitcher does have a slight advantage. But then again, we are pretty crappy hitters (laughter). So I don't think it's that big of an advantage.

Q. He has a couple of home runs.
MAX SCHERZER: That's pretty good.

Q. (No microphone.)
MAX SCHERZER: It's just a competitive part of the game. When you get in the box you want to contribute offensively, whether it's getting a bunt down or moving a runner or just trying to find a way to get on base.

I love the hitting aspect of the game. I love that I get to hit. It adds to what I have to do in between starts, changes in my mind what I have to physically do to be ready to be able to go out there to not only pitch but also be able to hit and run the bases. You have to be ready for that. And so you have to physically train for that.

Q. At this point in your career with all the experience you've had in postseason baseball, what is the balance between the mental and the physical preparation at this time of year? Do you do anything less physically than you would do normally between starts to keep your legs fresh or do you want to just stay as sharp as possible?
MAX SCHERZER: It's a delicate balance. Really, you've got to let your body talk to you, let your body tell you what you need to do. Some days you need to be able to run more, some days lift more. Your body is going to tell you what you need to do. So you've just got to be in tune with where you're at.

Every year is a little different. Especially now here I am 35 years old, it's a little different than I felt at 25 years old.

For me it is what it is. You've just got -- there's still times where I'm lifting just as heavy, if not heavier, than I did earlier in my career, but there might be days I might not run as much. For me it's about knowing what my program is, knowing what I have to physically do to get ready and just come up with a plan each and every day.

Q. I was hoping if you can please talk about what Dave Martinez has meant to you guys this year to get to this point, especially his positivity, sometimes that mantra about 1-0 gets a little...
MAX SCHERZER: 1-0, I think goes back, I think that's everybody. It's something that he lives and dies by.

But Davey and our coaching staff, I think they all deserve so much credit. And so with Davey spearheading this and understanding -- pushing all the right buttons and finding ways to get creative and being a real good communicator with everything to be able to handle the pitching staff, the hitters, the bullpen, and being in constant communication with them.

So for me, my relationship with him is really unique in the fact that -- I won't say I have a lot of say, but that he listens to different things that I bring to him and different ideas of how I want to almost kind of manage myself so that when we get in different situations in tight ball games that he's not shocked by whatever decision that we both make.

Q. Who knows what's going to happen tonight but this is the only chance we have to visit with you. Have you thought at all about the scenario that, I may have a chance to get the start in the clinching game for the World Series at home?
MAX SCHERZER: Yeah, you're human. But, no, because I played enough baseball in this game and anything can happen. So at this point in time you literally just live and breathe each and every day. At this point in time it's just one day at a time. You really -- that's a cliche, but man, is that so true that for us -- for me, it's just coming here and watching Game 4, watching to see what happens and just react to that. And then when it's Game 5 just, hey, stay in the moment, understand what you're doing, feel the game flow, use your instincts and just pitch.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297