NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 7, 2021

Evan Longoria

Mike Yastrzemski

Oracle Park

San Francisco Giants

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions, please.

Q. Could both of you kind of address, now that you know your opponent, your thoughts on the fact that it is the Dodgers particularly after such a close race there the last month or so and lots of season series games.

MIKE YASTRZEMSKI: For me it kind of felt like this was how it was going end up anyways. I felt like I didn't even have to watch the game to figure out who we were going to play. It just felt like that was going to be the matchup that we were going to have.

And it's one of those things where it's going to be two good teams battling each other, so looking forward to having a lot of fun competing against another really good team.

EVAN LONGORIA: Same thing, obviously, but I feel like this may also be like a series or a moment where baseball may have to think about restructuring the way that the playoffs happen. 106 and 107 wins doesn't feel like a DS matchup, you know? Especially because the season is so long for two teams to win that many games and then one of them to have to go home this early.

But that being said, I mean, obviously same kind of sentiment. We knew that we were going to have to go through them and they're going to have to go through us to get to the World Series. So better get it out of the way early.

Q. With Gabe Kapler, how kind of important has he been just kind of the way his demeanor is in terms of getting you guys right, integrating all the analytics and stuff, and getting all the buy-in in the clubhouse?

EVAN LONGORIA: We don't really, at least as a group or from the outside, talk about analytics all that much. I mean obviously there's an understanding that a lot of the way that the lineups and the way that we kind of go about the game, a lot of it is analytically-based.

But I think that's been part of the reason why there's a lot of buy-in is because it's not like the kind of this like cookie cutter approach. There's like a more human aspect to it that has been easier for the group to buy into.

Q. Evan, you've been in this spot before in the playoffs but Mike has not. What would be your best piece of advice for him?

EVAN LONGORIA: To enjoy it. It's been like eight years since I've been to the postseason, so that's, it feels like another lifetime ago. So I'm just really appreciative to have the opportunity again to play in the postseason and this is going to be an unbelievable way to kick it off. This series is going to be a mad house at both places. And from what I understand this is the first time that the Giants and the Dodgers have ever met in the postseason somehow, so that just kind of adds fuel to the fire.

So just really try and soak it all in. I mean, I can't even tell you my last playoff memory. I mean, that's how like far ago it seems and how quickly it goes when you're there. So, yeah, just enjoy it.

Q. Evan, I hope you can remember back because I'm going to lean on your playoff experience too. So you've been part of so many and I think in 2008 you guys had maybe three days off before your first round started. What happens to the offense when have you three or four days off? Can it be like an All-Star break? Are there concerns about getting bats going? How do you handle that?

EVAN LONGORIA: I mean, yeah, I think there's, obviously sometimes there is concerns about having some rust built up, but I think in this group, other than the last game, we were kind of spinning our wheels a little bit offensively, and so I think this can be a good way to kind of reset and refocus on the plan and go out there and hopefully turn it on offensively.

Q. Evan, at the end of the last season when this team kind of threatened to make the playoffs and didn't, did you still have the feel that this team could go this far?

EVAN LONGORIA: Going into the off-season with some of the pieces that we were losing, I mean, you never really know what's going to happen. I felt like last year we had a really good shot, especially at the halfway point. I feel like every team felt like they had a shot last year. It was completely different.

Then coming into this year and looking at 162-game season, I think through the first probably quarter of the season there was some question marks. We set out in the beginning of the spring to be a team that could win the division, and Gabe touched on it in his little post-ceremony talk out there, like we really did say that.

But sometimes you have to go out and do it to believe it, and I think once we started winning, that belief just grew and, I mean, it just kind of took on a life of its own.

Q. You are a veteran of postseason, but it was awhile ago. Do you think that maybe when you walk out there tomorrow there will be some extra jitters almost like the first time?

EVAN LONGORIA: Yeah, for sure. I think that that's normal for anybody, whether you've been going every year or it's your first time. It's a completely different thing from the regular season. It's probably comparable to like opening day, but every day. You have opening day again and again. We're dealing with the media in here, which is completely different. We're going to have two or three times the media on the field before games. It's just like this whole other thing that happens in the postseason that, it's enjoyable. It's different. It's a cool experience.

Q. Just following up with what you opened with, just in terms of the structure of the playoffs. If you were an all-powerful commissioner for a day, how would you structure the playoffs?

EVAN LONGORIA: I don't even really know. I just feel like there's two teams that win this many games, it seems early to match up us two. But I'm always for having more teams in the playoffs. I think it engages more fan bases. I mean, obviously we had those discussions with the league before, and that's something that I think is potentially always on the table.

But it seems like some sort of ranking system based on wins, and I know all that's going to take realigning the divisions and changing all of that. But that was I guess my way to stir the pot in terms of trying to figure out some other way to match up teams that have had this much success in the regular season. Like I said, it just seems early for one of us to have to go home.

Q. You've got teammates who have won multiple championships here. Do you discuss what this is going to be like? Do you feel like maybe you felt a little bit of it in the previous Dodger series? What, how are you approaching what this is going to feel like tomorrow?

MIKE YASTRZEMSKI: Just kind of taking it in stride right now. I haven't really thought about the emotional side of it until we get there. If you get too far ahead of yourself and get too lost in the future, then you're going to kind of miss out on these opportunities that you have to recover and to get yourself right.

But I imagine it's going to feel a lot like the last couple games of the season because we were in a situation where it felt like we were fighting for our lives. It's like we needed to win those games in order to be in the situation that we wanted to and that creates a different environment. I think that we handled it as best we could. We didn't get too high on the highs. We didn't get too low on the win the day before the last, or the loss before the last day of the season, and I think those things are really going to help us who don't have the playoff experience really understand what it might feel like.

So we're just going to try and lean on the past couple games and assume that it's going to feel pretty similar.

Q. For both or either of you. All year you guys have really maximized the way the roster has been used, whether it's for because of injuries or recent moves or matchup sort of things. How much of that, the fact that the 26-man roster seems like it's kind of constantly in use, how much of that has contributed to the chemistry you guys all talk about and the selflessness? How do you see the way -- and how unusual is it to employ the roster the way you guys have this year?

EVAN LONGORIA: I think that that was something that we all knew was going to happen at the outset of the spring. There were very few kind of positions that were set in stone, and so from the beginning, this group of 35, 40 guys has really just been able to kind of come together and kind of breathe that selflessness, knowing that like in the 3rd or 4th or 5th inning you could be coming out and pinch hit for, and I think you see a lot of that success in the guys that were coming off the bench.

Like I think we set a record for home runs, pinch hit home runs this year. Our average off the bench, the guys that came in, was through the roof, just like preparedness from top to bottom all contributed to the winning and to the, kind of just the culture of the club.

MIKE YASTRZEMSKI: I think a lot of that credit too is we have to give a lot of credit to our staff in terms of the preparation, the way that they make you feel before you go into that at-bat, and the hitting coaches give you every detail of information that they know that you need. We talked about analytics earlier.

But bringing in the human aspect that they have done so well and letting us let them know what we like, what we like to know, and they got to the point where they don't even need to ask us what information we want. They already know it ahead of time.

So for Donnie it's going to be different than for me than it's going to be different for Longo, and they understand that and really care about that. So to put in that much effort from those guys has really contributed to that.

Q. Mike, Logan is a guy who, he had to work his way here, he earned this. Now he's Game 1 pitcher. What about him makes you think he's ready for this, what about his personality, his demeanor that assures you he'll be ready for it?

MIKE YASTRZEMSKI: The thing about Webby that I'm sure most of you guys know is he's the same guy every single day. He's a big goofball who shows up with a big goofy smile on his face every day, in a good mood, no moment alters that, whether it's a big one, whether it's a small one, he wants to go out there and compete. And when you have a guy that's that consistent with their personality and their approach to getting ready for the game and how they compete, you have, it's the easiest route to believing in someone and having confidence to play defense behind them, knowing they will get the job done.

Q. Mike, you witnessed Yankees-Red Sox as a spectator and now you've gone through Giants-Dodgers as a participant. Any way to compare the two rivalries?

MIKE YASTRZEMSKI: It's kind of tough because one of them I was a fan, so I feel like I was much more emotionally involved. You ride highs and lows so hard as a fan, when you win a big game, when you lose a big game.

As a player it's completely different. You have to find a way to stay even keeled. So it's been a completely different experience, but both are so fun to be a part of and so intense that it feels like every game matters throughout the entire season. Those games in early May feel like they're a September game. So it's been really cool to see both sides of that and just be a part of it.