NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 7, 2021

Dave Roberts

Oracle Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Obviously an incredibly exciting matchup between you guys and the Giants tomorrow. What are you looking forward to most about facing the Giants again?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think, as far as expectation, I think probably the thing I'm looking forward to most is, I mean, I think right now everything outside of the game and the series. I think I'm really, it's part of the fun about being in a series like this with a rival, the fan anticipation, the media kind of certainly anticipation, but also looking back on history and a lot of stories start to come out.

We've been two of the best teams all year in baseball, and so to see us go head-to-head in the series, it's really exciting for our players and just kind of seeing how our guys will respond.

Q. With Walker and Julio, with their experience in the postseason last year, the success that they have had, how does that really prove to be a benefit for them as they prepare for Game 1 and Game 2?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think the thing is the experience allows you to not let the game speed up, the moment be too big. So I think that we certainly have that covered. There's a lot of guys in that clubhouse who can say the same thing.

So, I mean, it's, again, it's two really good ball clubs, and certainly having Julio and Walker kind of taking the baseball feel confident.

Q. Obviously you and Gabe Kapler go back a ways, Jacksonville. You guys played together in Boston. During those times as teammates what memories do you have of him?

DAVE ROBERTS: Very good teammate, very good preparer, competitor, always been good with his diet. Yeah, I mean, I think he, like myself, like to think that we maximize the most out of our talents in our baseball careers. Really good leader, really good leader, always has been.

Q. He says that when he watches you manage that he sees your intensity. When you see him manage what do you see?

DAVE ROBERTS: I see a consistent demeanor. There's no panic. He's always been cerebral, ahead of things. The game doesn't speed up on him. I see communication with his coaches. You've seen over the last couple years the trust from the players in him.

Q. Obviously yesterday you had to get through four-and-two-thirds innings there after you pulled your starter. We have seen you do this kind of a number of times over the years. But every time you do it, I mean, does it get any easier? Does it change at all? Does the experience change that process at all for you?

DAVE ROBERTS: It certainly doesn't get easier. It's certainly not scripted, as some people might think it might be. It's definitely not my ideal scenario. I think it's just something that you've got to use all the information, you got to use your eyes, your gut, everything to ultimately make a decision and be willing to live with the result.

So that won't be my plan tomorrow night or the next night, but if it comes to that situation, I'm going to have to make a decision. So to your question, it doesn't get easier, no.

Q. He beat me to a similar question following him up. Gabe was, Gabe says he embraces butterflies, nerves, adrenaline, whatever you want to call it, and he went, after the World Series in 2004 in Boston he went to play in Japan and couldn't find the nerves and he really struggled. Did you ever observe moments where you saw him getting up for games where he looked that way, that maybe then he had a good performance or anything like that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think when he gets like that there's more gum in his mouth. He chews a lot more gum. He's an intense guy. He certainly had ways to kind of combat that, or as he put it, embrace it. We all have kind of some type of adrenaline and emotions that we kind of have to corral to have clarity.

Q. With all the connections in this series, with Gabe and Farhan's connections to the Dodgers and you to this franchise, he kind of said, you know, put the cross-pollination aside, we're just two teams trying to do everything right to win. I mean, do you kind of look at it the same way?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think so. I think that there's certainly a mutual like and a certain mutual respect from people to the organizations. But outside of that, we're trying to win a series and they're in our way.

Q. There's been a lot of talk all season long about the physical grind of going back to 162 games. But with you and the Giants' race being so close for the last couple months, can you talk about the mental grind that you had to go through, and especially with winning last night, have you started to see any mental fatigue among your guys at all?

DAVE ROBERTS: I do know that, and I appreciate the question. I think for me, I talk more about the mental grind than the physical grind. I think the easy, the lazy way to look at it is the physical part of it.

But if you're laying it out there every single day and focusing for three hours, three and a half, four hours a night in the postseason, you should be considerably more taxed mentally.

To your question, our guys are ready and built to play through October. So that's part of the overarching long-view look, but also how do you narrow it to one game at a time. So those two together allows you to play through October every year. So for us that's not a concern of mine.

Q. With this, you basically had a front row view of this new Giants regime in being in the same division. When did that tide start to turn, in your eyes, seeing them as really a hurdle for you guys?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, they had a very good run with Brian Sabean, obviously Larry, Bruce Bochy, and then the changing of the guard with Farhan and bringing on Gabe, new coaches, and kind of a whole new culture, mindset, I guess. So it took some time. I can't pinpoint exactly when, but there was a point, I don't know if it was spring training this year or what, where they kind of bought in and it wasn't a fluke that they got off to a good start and they proved to be the best team all regular season.

So I don't know the point. I just know that they came out as a unit this year.

Q. With Cody, do you expect to maybe rely on him a little bit more, especially in center field in this ballpark, just considering how it plays and the postseason?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I do. I think that this ballpark, obviously you got to have a guy that can cover the grass out there and, yeah, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't start all three games in center field.

Q. In talking to Trea last week, he had experienced a wildcard game a couple years ago. He said it's actually a good thing if you survive it, like, the rhythm of having to play another game. Do you think there's something to that, to not having those four days off and kind of staying in rhythm?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I do. I do. It could go the other way depending upon how Walker comes out and throws the baseball.

But I do think that, kind of in a vacuum, I do think that playing a one-game elimination and coming out of it needing the off-day to kind of reset a little bit. But to go into a longer series, I don't think that we're going to come in complacent. We're going to still come in with an edge and a sense of urgency.

But getting over that elimination game, it was a big deal and I do think that that should be beneficial. It should benefit us.

Q. When you play a team 19 times and it's as intense as it is and when you guys are doing your preparation, your information gathering, you're turning every stone, do you find anything new? Is there anything different?

DAVE ROBERTS: There's a few players as far as on the pitching side that we're not too familiar with, but we have a little familiarity with these guys, and I think conversely they have seen pretty much our hand, I think.

So now it's kind of, there's not a whole lot of tricks. They sort of play the game straight. We play the game straight. It's who is going to be a better team that particular night, who is going to play better baseball that particular night, and who is the first team to win three games.

So I think the familiarity and all the games we played all year essentially have been pretty close and a call or a play here could have swung it the other way.

Q. When you mention pitchers, is Doval the first guy --

DAVE ROBERTS: That's the first guy I think of.

Q. What have you seen based on numbers?

DAVE ROBERTS: He's got a good arm. It's a cutter. It's slider. It's 97 to 100. He's young and inexperienced, but he's shown to pitch huge innings and they have shown that they trust him in leverage.

Q. How many pitchers do you expect to add to your roster, and have you made a final decision on it?

DAVE ROBERTS: We're contemplating 12 or 13, something like that.

Q. Kind of talking about this rivalry, when you played the Yankees-Red Sox in the playoffs, did it feel like a playoff series or did it kind of feel a little bit different given the rivalry and the fan basis and all that stuff?

DAVE ROBERTS: As far as the regular or postseason?

Q. In the postseason. Like when you, like when you play in that rivalry in the postseason.

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it felt like a rivalry. I think that there was a lot of disdain with the Yankees and the Red Sox. It was crazy.

Where this is a little bit more, I don't want to use the wrong word, but a little bit more, yeah, it was different. That's safe. It was different. I mean, that rivalry in the postseason, you're talking about families worried about their health and safety and it was really, it was scary at times, yeah.

Q. And obviously this one is a little bit different, but as a player, does it take a little while to kind of adjust to maybe the intensity that's going to come with this?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it does. I haven't talked to Trea about it, but Max and I have talked a little bit about kind of, this is different, and Max in particular has been around for so long and accomplished everything on the baseball field, but being in a true rivalry like this and hearing Dodger Stadium like that and how we're going to hear it against the Giants in a true generational rivalry, it's different. It's absolutely different, and it's, I wish everyone that put on baseball uniform could be apart of this rivalry or as you said the Red Sox-Yankees.

Q. Albert was outside a bit ago just by himself standing there on the dugout rail and just kind of seemed to be soaking it in a little bit. Can you -- how thrilled are you for him to get this chance on the October stage again?

DAVE ROBERTS: I'm extremely thrilled. I think that the only way last night could have been any better is if he would have walked 'em off. But I think he's at a point in his career where he's just soaking in every moment because we can talk about nothing is guaranteed and be grateful for your opportunity to play baseball, but he's at the point where it's like you never know. So I think that whether it's coming out early before an off-day workout or having a holding court with a couple teammates, you know, those things like that, those are big, because Father Time like they say is undefeated. So I just, I love that and I love our players seeing him take it all in, because I think that that's really important for everyone.

Q. What are your thoughts for first base, Matt Beaty kind of what are you thinking for this series?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, he's going to be a big part of it. I'm not prepared to kind of give those guys the full lineup, but he makes a lot of sense.