NL WILDCARD GAME: DODGERS VS CARDINALS

October 6, 2021

Mike Shildt

Dodger Stadium

St. Louis Cardinals

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Could you tell us the 15 on the roster with bringing up the young slugger, Yepez?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, we just wanted to make sure we had one extra position player, and Yepez is a guy that has more than earned it based on numbers he's done and how he's played in Memphis. He was a recommendation from the front office in player development, so he's on the roster. Good for him.

Q. What has the conversation been with him, obviously coming up in a game like this? He told us yesterday he had been soaking in a lot, and just the mindset of him trying to be available today?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, the conversations, first of all, congratulations. You're on the playoff roster of the St Louis Cardinals. That's pretty cool and well earned, and welcome aboard. We'll make sure he's acclimated to how we do everything or reacclimated because we do a lot of things similarly in our system. So made him feel comfortable, welcome.

And then the guys were great to him. He took ground balls with Goldy yesterday and Goldy talked to him a little bit of first base, which is true Goldy, you know, just sharing information. So he's looking to help him out a little bit, so we're glad he's here.

Q. How specialized do you think that 26th spot in the roster is? A lot of times you see teams go with maybe a pinch runner for some speed maybe late in the game. With a guy like Yepez, pretty specialized, a certain style...

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, you don't know how the game is going to go, so it's hard to have a crystal ball with that specialization that they used.

But based on what we have in the system and based on what he's done and having an extra quality bat on the bench is always a good thing. So that's where we erred on.

Q. Has the team discussed during September as well the pitching depth or...

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I mean, listen, we were looking for innings in September. He would have been a consideration in other variables, but based on where we were, just didn't wasn't the timing for him. But he more than earned the opportunity to come up. Just didn't work from a roster perspective.

Q. It's not uncommon to have rookies kind of debut in the postseason. I believe we saw it last year with Brian Weathers in San Diego. How do you balance the magnitude of the situation with him potentially making his debut in the postseason?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I think we use DeJong. We've gotten here and don't know how the game is going to go. We know how the extra inning rule in play as far as starting a runner at second base which clearly has shorted the game.

So you don't know. Look, we're going to ride with the guys that we've gotten here with, but there's an opportunity that presents itself, we'll put him in there. He's clearly earned it and he's a good player evidently and takes a good at-bat, and we'll put him, like everybody else, in the best spot we can.

Sometimes we can -- we can't necessarily script it, so he'll be ready when the opportunity comes, I'm sure.

Q. What do you like specifically just about the way this lineup is structured right now? It looks like it's the same one that you used for Sundays regular season?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, we like the lineup. Obviously we've run it out here consistently, had success with it. I like the length of it is probably the best way to answer your question. Clearly O'Neill just got recently named the player of the month and been a big part of our September, sandwiched in between Goldy and Nolan is a nice spot for him. Dylan is great in the 5; Yadi is Yadi, so just taking great at-bats, and Harrison was very recently the National League Player of the Week.

Talking about a very long lineup that is more than capable of putting a lot of consistently quality at-bats and beating the other team in a different way.

Q. How tough a decision was it with the shortstop spot and Sosa and DeJong tonight?

MIKE SHILDT: I mean, it was a tough decision. Felt like a couple variables went into it, but ultimately it felt like Sosa earned the opportunity. Nothing necessarily Pauly has done or didn't do, but more about what Sosa did, and he's done a nice job for us and is a big reason why we've gotten to where we're at. So he deserved the opportunity today.

Q. As great as Nolan has been for you on both sides of the ball, can you describe the excitement level of getting to see him play the first postseason game as a Cardinal?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I'm excited for him whole club, but that's the reason -- one of the reasons Nolan came over here. He wanted to make sure he was in a position to play in the postseason, and it's good to see him.

He's done a lot to contribute to it, that's for sure, and I'm looking forward to seeing him play quite a bit this October.

Q. 162-game season defined by series, it comes down to the one game here. Do you see beauty in that or if you were the commissioner would you want this to be a series?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, you know, we play with what we have. We'll take a one-shot deal. It's like a Game 5 or a Game 7, so view it as such.

If I were king for the day I would probably prefer it to be a three-game series, but it's a one-gamer and we're excited and glad to be here.

Q. You have a Mikolas on the roster. Is that in part because of the extra inning situation? Is that sort of why he's there?

MIKE SHILDT: Correct, provide some quality length that Miles has built up and capable of if we need length at the -- you know, we go extra innings.

Q. What are your thoughts on that? You go all season with the -- whatever you're supposed to call it, the ghost runner at second, and then now it's like back to baseball 2020. Do you like that step back?

MIKE SHILDT: I don't mind it. I think it's appropriate where we are. I think it makes sense. You know, we talk about winning games in the playoffs, it's about length of roster. You know, it's a scenario that if painted that would require a lot of your roster to have to compete.

Miles is a good opportunity, hopefully we can do something in nine innings, but if we go extra innings we've got Miles there who's got a lot of playoff experience there for us, or a fair amount, pitching really well in a couple Game 1s, but I think I would prefer it being more of a straight-up game.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE SHILDT: That's correct.

Q. If it was a five-game series, you would have seen him four times. How is this different in your own mind the way you're managing... (indiscernible)?

MIKE SHILDT: Well, you know you've got in a fifth game most all hands are on deck, but sometimes not necessarily the case do we literally have all hands on deck. You just need to be aware of creating the best matchups that you can, seeing what the game provides.

We've got a starter in Wain-o who can take down the whole thing and is more than capable and clearly willing to do that.

So any time you're in an elimination game it's just about staying present, staying in the moment and executing at every turn, and that's all you can really do, and the chips fall where they may.

Q. With the All-Star level talent on both teams plus two great pitchers starting the game, how would you describe tonight for baseball fans?

MIKE SHILDT: It's going to be a treat for baseball fans. You're talking about not only, as you mentioned, some really, really well-respected modern legendary players on both sides of the coin, you're also talking about two storeyed franchises with a lot of history.

So regardless of what level of baseball fan you are, you're going to want to tune into this one, especially with Scherzer and Wain-o going at each other.

Q. The first half of the year it was a struggle to find starting pitching at times. Is it kind of poetically fitting that you'll now have four players that you look at as starters to choose from in this game if it comes down to that?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I think as far as guys in the bullpen, Jack and Dak and Miles, yeah, absolutely. We've got our guy going to the mound, but we also have, to your point, didn't have Dak until the last couple weeks of the season; didn't have Jack more than half the season; didn't have Miles more than half the season.

I applaud the group for staying the course and getting some of those guys back and right, and of course the additions we talked about with Lester and Happ in the bullpen, LeBlanc deserves a lot of credit, too. He's not with us, but helped stabilize our group. And of course McFarland and Garcia.

But yeah, it's good. Look, there's a reason why we've done what we've done. We've been able to get our guys back, and it's interesting those guys are in the bullpen available if needed.