NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 7, 2021

Charlie Morton

American Family Field

Atlanta Braves

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. You've had a lot of postseason experience. Do you still feel those same butterflies as you would have in 2013, that first one, or even some of the more recent ones? Is it always the same?

CHARLIE MORTON: No, I wouldn't say it's the same, probably because there's less unknown about -- from my perspective about or just being introspective, there's less unknown. I know I can do it. I know I'm capable of doing it. Whereas before I didn't know that. I didn't believe that I could. I was really pretty unsure of myself.

And I would say, I would say maybe I still have those doubts. Like, can I do it now? But it's not like, it's not such a deep question to me anymore. Like it's not, I don't know, you basically work your whole life to get to a point where you can do something like perform in a big game -- or your whole career. And someone gives you the ball and you look in the mirror saying, man, I don't know if I can do it. That question's been answered.

So at this point it becomes more about doing it for my teammates. Doing it for our fans. Doing it for those other reasons, and myself, for sure.

But I think there are deeper questions that can be answered before the first couple of times you get to go out there. I don't know how else to describe it.

Q. Can you give us your assessment of the Brewers offense and what can make these guys challenging?

CHARLIE MORTON: I would say they're pretty balanced. There's some power there. There's some scrappiness there and everything in between. I mean, they've got some speed. I think they're just a well-rounded team overall.

I don't know. And, too, like when we get our sheets, like our pregame sheets for scouting, most of the time we have a pretty good idea of who is going to be in there. And I probably pick six or seven guys. I would say, though, I'm going to have to cover -- I'm going to have to know maybe 11 guys because I really don't know who -- maybe even 12 guys -- I don't really know who they're going to round out the lineup with.

But, so, really that question will be answered tomorrow when they release that lineup.

But I would say there's some guys that it looks like they do a really good job with the breaking balls. There's some guys that look like they do a really good job with heaters. I don't think they're built one way.

Q. Going back to what you were talking about earlier, what does it mean to you then to be named this Game 1 starter and to know you've got guys on your team that, with you rolling out there, they have all the confidence in the world with you kind of setting the tone in this series and how you approach it if at all any differently from any other start?

CHARLIE MORTON: I think I know now that -- I think I have a better idea what I have to do to prepare mentally. I think that, like, I'm okay with becoming obsessive over my preparation within a certain window.

Whereas I'll sit there and I'll look at something for half hour, 45 minutes, an hour, and then I've got to move on. Whereas I think before in the past I think something like that, it would probably be spinning in my head. Just the game, the unknown, like what's going to happen? Who's going to be in the lineup? What am I going to feel like when I get out there? All those unknowns.

I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to feel like. I have a pretty good idea what it's going to be like here. They've got a roof here. Probably going to trap the sound really well. Probably going to be really loud. The guys over there, I know they're pretty fired up. They've got a really good team.

And it's nice to know that I've been in those spots. It's reassuring because the unknown is really what gets you in life.

So I don't really think -- I'm not really thinking about those things a whole lot now. I'm more focused. So, I'm more focused on what I feel like I need to be focused on.

In terms of answering your question, the confidence that a team has in you, that an organization has in you, there's really no words to describe it.

There can only be -- there's only so many chances you get that the team gives you. So many guys get the chance to get the ball to start a playoff game. And this year I'm a guy that's been given the ball to start a game.

There's so many guys I've played with, I've watched, I've admired, respected that never had that chance. And I try to make the most of it every time.

I know that it's not a normal thing to be given so many chances to start so many playoff games.

Q. Through last year's ALCS Game 7, I think you had a 1.45 over your past nine postseason appearances. If you look back on 2017, was there one of those games where things clicked or just where you gain that confidence and things changed for you?

CHARLIE MORTON: I would say in '17, going into that spring training, coming from -- I was with the Pirates for seven years. I was with the Phillies for a brief stint for four starts; I got hurt, had surgery, ending my season '16.

In '17, when I got to spring training -- like with the Pirates, I was there for a long time. But I didn't really -- I don't know if I ever really got to a spot where I looked at myself like, man, someone's counting on me, to a degree where I would want -- I would have wanted to be in that spot. I never got there. I never got to where I wanted to be.

And then when I got there in '17 with the Astros, I was kind of still there. I was coming off a season where I threw in four games, got hurt. I had no impact, if not a negative impact because they traded for me and they paid me a lot of money to rehab.

And then I looked around that room and there were some really good players in that room. And I did okay. Had a 4-something ERA for my first month, month and a half maybe. I got hurt. I had a lat strain. I thought I was going to miss the better part of a season from what they told me initially, because, long story, but I came back, I don't know, sometime in July. And I think I was kind of stuck my first month and a half with -- where I was with the Pirates.

I always viewed myself as a sinkerballer. I'm going to go down and in on righties, gonna kind of mix it around, trying to figure out what I'm doing with lefties. I had no idea.

Once I came back, made a concerted effort to throw more breaking balls, more of a mix. Once I did that, I started noticing that pitching got a lot easier.

And then when they told me I was going to make -- I made my first playoff start with the Astros at Fenway. And I just remember the day before that, like just those emotions, those feelings, like, just a lot of doubt, anxiety, like, man, I don't know if I can do this. I don't mean: Can I go pitch? Because I'd already pitched in the playoffs. But can I keep this going?

And I went out and I felt okay. And then they gave me the ball. I pitched the game in New York against the Yankees.

And I remember giving up a bunch of runs and, like, leaving that field thinking, man, I don't know what just happened. I felt like I threw the ball okay. Just a ton of people scored. And they gave me the ball for Game 7 in the championship series. It's do or die -- Game 7, no tomorrow if you don't win.

I think that was probably it. That was when I this is Game 7 in the championship series against the Yankees. And I got through that okay.

And then my next start was the World Series start against the Dodgers. Felt I threw the ball really well then. It was probably sometime around then. It was probably sometime, going into Yankee Stadium, getting beat like that in Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, and then being given the ball for Game 7. That was something that I had never experienced, like, coming off a start like that and then them looking at me and going, you know, you threw the ball well. We trust you. We believe in you. Here's the ball for Game 7.

And I think that's when I finally was, like, holy cow. And then since then it's just been kind of, I don't know, I don't doubt myself the way I used to from that moment on.

So now it's just kind of like, if I get -- if I'm privileged enough to be given the ball in a playoff start, it's like I know that I've done it. I know I'm capable of doing it. Now, for how long? You can just look at me, I'm not saying I'm going to be playing in six years, but we'll all be sitting here, in a hypothetical world, thinking, man, I can still do this? Probably not. But in this moment, I feel like I threw the ball well this year. And I feel like I'm in a good spot.

Q. You give a lot of credit to A.J. for just giving you that start or whoever else?

CHARLIE MORTON: I remember A.J. I remember we were walking up -- I don't remember exactly what happened, but we were in New York, and -- after that loss -- and I remember him looking at me in the face, and him being, like, look, something to the effect of like, you've got this. Just didn't go our way. Basically what he said.

And then more than words. In action, he gave me the ball in Game 7. And then when we were in Dodger Stadium, he looked at me and he said, for Game 7 in the World Series, he looked at me and said, I don't know when you're going to get the ball -- if it's going to be in the middle of the game or the end of the game but we're going to get it to you.

And by then I started to think, man, someone -- like an organization actually considers me a viable option to pitch in a Game 7, like a shutdown situation.

So, that makes you -- how old am I then? 33 years old. So I guess those were the moments that definitely, probably were the most impactful in my career in terms of me feeling like I belonged and it took me a while. But we got there.

Q. Ever since Willy Adames came to Milwaukee, his teammates talked about the energy boost he's provided as a teammate. You played with him in Tampa. I'm wondering, what is he like as a teammate? And do you have any examples of that energy he showed in the locker room or anything like that?

CHARLIE MORTON: So I wasn't there when Willy got to the big leagues. But I could tell immediately when I got there that he desperately wanted to be involved in the clubhouse. He desperately wanted to connect guys in the clubhouse. He wanted to be a glue guy.

And I say it like a guy that transcends cultural barriers, language barriers, age barriers -- like a guy that just makes the room better for everybody. And I could tell that immediately about him. And just aside from what he does on the field, you need those guys to win.

You need those guys for a season like we had last year, where it was really weird. It's very challenging. Last year everybody had to be all in, and even this year to some degree we had that.

But then when I saw that Willy got traded, I was excited for him because I knew that maybe he needed that coming out of Tampa because I knew that there's some guys coming up behind him and I also knew, though, that he would really probably appreciate that, that an organization would give up something to have him come, and then give him a job and then give him the chance to run with it.

And then sometimes you just think like the change of scenery kind of thing. In his case, I think -- I do hope for the future that it works out for him. I love Willy. I think he's great. I think he would fit in anywhere. And I'm really happy to see that he's done so well.

So I wish Willy nothing but the best, but I didn't think that anything different of him. Like I wouldn't have expected any less, that the guys would have loved him and that he would have fit in and done a heck of a job.