NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 7, 2021

Kenley Jansen

Oracle Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. All season long you talked about just preparing for the postseason. How pleased are you with not only your outing last night but just how you've been performing building up to now really?

KENLEY JANSEN: Well, just taking day by day. That's what I've been preparing myself the whole year this year and taking one day at a time and it's been great. So got to continue to do it, prepare against the Giants tomorrow, and we'll be in a good spot.

Q. Obviously Dave Roberts had to go get Scherzer yesterday in the 5th inning there. You guys in the bullpen had to give four-and-two-thirds innings there. Roberts had to kind of pull the right levers to get the ball to you there in the end. Obviously we have seen him do this a number of times over the years. Just at this point, just how much kind of confidence do you have in him being able to make the right decisions to get the ball to you there at the end?

KENLEY JANSEN: I think us as players all we can do is prepare. We can prepare for the game and control what we can control. And I think Doc and the front office, they all know what they're doing. Situationally, our bullpen has been stepping up the whole year and once that gate opened, we take care of business and that's why we got to continue to do. Whenever Doc comes to the bullpen we just got to continue to do what we do.

Q. You guys are the teams with the two best records in baseball, evenly matched. The fans wanted to see this. How much did you hadn't your teammates want this opportunity?

KENLEY JANSEN: Oh, definitely. I mean, this opportunity to play a historic organization in the game. It's fun. It's fun playing the rivalry, and tomorrow we'll be ready for it. So it's going to be a good match.

Q. I know you're a big Jordan guy. I'm just curious like with all the free agency you guys have coming up at the end of this year, does this October sort of feel like a last dance for this group?

KENLEY JANSEN: I'm not there yet, to be honest with you. I'm not thinking. All I think is win one game and try to win another championship here in Los Angeles. So that's where the mindset is right now, and like you say, those times and moments will come when it needs to come.

Q. I just caught up with Albert outside and he was just sort of standing out there by himself taking in the scene a little bit. Just, can you sense what this means to Albert to have another opportunity, age 41, he's back in the postseason at this stage in his career?

KENLEY JANSEN: I mean, we're glad to have Albert here in the clubhouse. A Hall of Famer no doubt, and one of the best hitters probably in the game. It's fun having him around. It's fun watching him give information, try to help other players to get better, not even in the offense, he talks with us as a pitcher too sometimes.

A guy like that knows what he's doing in situations. You just want to learn from it and see what it is he's looking for in that type of situation. And that's how you continue to learn and get better. So his role in the clubhouse is big and we're glad to have him.

Q. How would you say you've evolved from this point last season just as pitcher?

KENLEY JANSEN: Say it again. I didn't understand that.

Q. How are you different as a pitcher right now this season?

KENLEY JANSEN: I mean, you learn a lot. You learn from when you have to deal with adversity and knowing that I didn't have my best two years the last couple of years, and you learn. You try to make sure and see what's going on with your, best pitch is my cutter, and I try to shape that and make it back to what it is and not even that, just continue to develop my two-seamer and slider. And now you just know situations how have you to use it better now.

So that's what I feel like. I'm a more experienced pitcher now instead of being stubborn out there and just die with one pitch.

Q. What's been the biggest difference since those two outings against San Francisco, against the Giants in Los Angeles in late July? What's been the biggest difference for you down the stretch? What changed?

KENLEY JANSEN: You can't control -- those are two weird outings, to be honest with you. I just don't want to, like I say, I don't want to keep looking back from it. It's just weird. For me it's just continue to focus even more, narrow my focus down even narrower.

So that's what kind of helped me, and just continue to focus in one day. I'm focusing on today on my practice, and then when tomorrow comes I'll focus being in that ball game. So it's just always constantly just preparing myself to be at my best.

Q. What do you make of the Giants' season, all their winning late games and some crazy finishes against you guys?

KENLEY JANSEN: It showed that they want it. You can tell that, you can see that nobody talks about them. Everybody talks about the Dodgers and the Padres, and they have that chip on their shoulder, and you can see that.

And that's what they've be doing the whole year and I feel like, watching from the other side, and they be having an unbelievable season. So for us it's like we know who we are and how good we are and it's just to prepare and go against them and try to beat them.

Q. They have had a lot of different guys sort of come through different spots, what makes that lineup so difficult to navigate?

KENLEY JANSEN: It's like they don't chase a lot. If you see the whole year, they don't swing outside the zone too much. They make contact. Sometimes, if you make mistakes, they can leave the yard. So I think that's what kind of make them tougher this year I feel like is how disciplined they are. They are a very disciplined ball club when it comes to offense.

Q. Kershaw has obviously talked about how winning the World Series last year that after that he kind of felt like weight kind of come off his shoulders. Wondering, did you experience anything like that, how has that been for you?

KENLEY JANSEN: No, I mean, I'm excited to win another championship. So we won one last year and as a group we did it, nobody can take that away from us and I'm excited to for us to do it again. So that's where I'm at. Just focusing on winning tomorrow.