NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 10, 2021

Alex Wood

Dodger Stadium

San Francisco Giants

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Last time you were pitching here in a postseason obviously it was for the Dodgers and it was in a deciding game of the World Series. Do you think that might be going through your head at all tomorrow or is this just sort of another start for you?

ALEX WOOD: No, every year's a new start, right? Yeah, I mean a lot of good memories here, obviously. A lot of postseason runs.

But, yeah, tomorrow will be totally unique in and of itself and I'm excited for the opportunity and the challenge, so it's going to be a good rest of the series. I'm excited.

Q. Do you think it will be weird at all? Have you had a chance to talk to any of your teammates the last few days?

ALEX WOOD: I only talked to one, but it's just purely fantasy football. So we haven't talked a whole lot since the postseason started.

But I think the weirdness is, we're past that. My first two starts against them five years here, a lot of the same core group, some of those guys still over there. So definitely a little bit weird when you play your old team the first time or two.

But I feel like I've settled in. We've had a great year and it's been a blast and so I'm just excited. I still can't believe that this is the first time in history that the Giants and Dodgers have played each other in the postseason. I mean, it really is remarkable that that's never happened. So to be able to take part in that, I'm really excited.

Q. 26 games started this season. This is your healthiest season now in a few years. What was the key to being healthy and durable and staying on the mound?

ALEX WOOD: 2020 was just such a weird year. I think, last year I think I probably tried to, I was super excited. I came into camp in good shape. I was throwing really well in that first spring training, and then you come back for that second spring training in July or whenever it was in 2020 and still had that same enthusiasm, that excitement, especially on a team that had a chance to do what we ultimately ended up doing last.

I think I just ramped up too quick, basically got dead-arm a little bit and that shut me down for a few weeks, but then unfortunately came back and contributed in the postseason and there's nothing better than contributing to a team that does well in the postseason and goes far. So I was happy about that.

Then 2019, just missing time with my back. That was an unfortunate year. But I feel great, just I've changed some of my throwing stuff over the last two off-seasons and I feel like it's been a big help.

But felt good all year, managed it. Every year you try and take something from the year before and morph it into your plan for how you want to go about your business in between starts and over the course of the year, and I feel like I was in a really good place all year and thought my stuff stayed pretty good all year, and so hopefully it will keep going tomorrow.

But I feel great, so...

Q. Here in Los Angeles you went back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen quite a bit this season. It looked like you go into the regular season a starter, come out starter, go into the postseason a starter. Does that give you any kind of advantage this year that you maybe didn't have in years past?

ALEX WOOD: So I will say I contributed mostly as a starter. The postseason really the only time when I was in Los Angeles besides last year that I ever had any bullpen innings and obviously a weird year last year for sure.

But that's something that I did when I was in Atlanta when I first got called up. I was a starter my whole life and a starter in college and to start my professional career. Then when I got called up that's how I was able to break in. That's typically, when I came up in 2013, that's how a lot of guys, even starters, really got the opportunity to break in. You really have to be one of those top, top, top guys, like Kershaw-est-type guys, Scherzer guys, that really break in as a starter.

Now with how bullpens are used and how many arms are used over the course of a season, I feel like you don't see it quite as much. Good starters in guys' organizations where they come up and they end up going to the bullpen to start their career, still happens some, but not as common.

But I've been fortunate to be in the postseason a lot and so I'm, every year's different, but there's nothing better than this time of year. You really get to test yourself, separate the boys from the men. So I'm excited for another opportunity tomorrow to play in the postseason and contribute to a really good ball club. So we'll see what happens.

Q. I'm assuming this is, L.A. is a place that you would have considered coming back to, but I'm guessing maybe that the possibility to be a full-time starter, I know you're in a rotation, might have been important to you. How did you look at things after last seen?

ALEX WOOD: For sure. I think I could have come back here for sure, but I'm at the point in my career, I have, I really take a lot of pride in what we accomplished my five years in L.A. and finally getting over that ultimate hurdle last year and being able to win a World Series. And I've always considered myself a team-first guy. Anywhere I go whatever they ask of me I'll give more than that everywhere I go. Whatever the team needs for us to be the best and have the best chance to win, that's what I'm here for.

So going into this off-season after two weird years in a row for me I wanted to go somewhere that I could, I think I had pitched well enough over the course of my career to not have to worry about that as much. And I could have maybe came back here and battled it out, but they got a lot of good arms, got a lot of good young arms that are the future of the Dodgers.

So to be able to go to an organization that's put such a great staff together like the Giants, such a historically great baseball city in the Giants, and obviously my ties to Farhan. I think I said it when I signed. I've had a great relationship with Farhan for my whole career. Same with Andrew. And I really just believe in Farhan. From our time together in L.A. and in seeing the staff that he organized and the guys he's gone out and got and put together for us to have this year that we've had, he's just, he's a really smart guy, and so, and I really believed in him and I was grateful for him believing in me this year and wanting to bring me on and help me be the start of building something in San Francisco.

So that meant a lot to me and I'm glad we are where we are and having the chance to keep fighting another day.

Q. You're obviously so familiar with the Dodgers. They're familiar with you. Can you still use that, your familiarity with them, to your advantage after having seen them a couple times in the regular season is that --

ALEX WOOD: They will have a great plan. They know me really well. They do a great job of preparing for anyone and everyone, especially this time of year. So just got to kind of go out and execute, play the chess match, take what the game gives you, feel it out as you go, and try and make pitches and try and execute.

So I love these type atmospheres this time of year. It's something that really pushes you forward. You really learn a lot about yourself this time of year. And I feel like my stuff's been good and I've thrown the ball well, so I'm excited for the opportunity tomorrow, and so we'll see what happens, but I'm looking forward to it.

Q. How meaningful was it for you to be able to pitch in the clinching game and contribute the way you did to that last year, given the chase you guys had spent trying to get to the World Series and just what do you remember about that night and what it was like to finally kind of feel that?

ALEX WOOD: Yeah, I mean, a lot of different emotions. I think as I've gone on in my career, this game is really hard. I don't think there's anybody that would sit here and tell you that this game isn't one of the hardest games on earth to play and to do well with over time.

I still remember last spring training, lockermates with David Price, and just talking about, like, him and Kersh and just to, for guys to be at that level for that long, I mean, it's truly remarkable in this game. Like, you just don't see it.

So to really appreciate that and think about guys like that that have done it and done it so well for so long, and then you move into the postseason, and you have an opportunity, for myself, to contribute, especially in a clinching game, but really anytime in the postseason you can get in and be a part of that and feel like you're a part of that, there's really just nothing, nothing better than that feeling, for sure.

Q. You mentioned Farhan's intellect. Did you guys allow him to join the fantasy league?

ALEX WOOD: Yeah. He's looking bad this week too. But he is, he is in our league. I think he had, Crawford's our commissioner, and I guess he hounded him long enough, a good year and a half of hounding about getting in our league. So he's in there, but he's often not a great start, but we'll see if he picks up.

Q. The contract extension makes more sense now. You've been on the other side, like with the Dodgers, right, when they would reload every summer with like Rich and Darvish and Machado. What is it like to be on the other side of that now when they are chasing you guys and able to pick up someone like Turner and Scherzer and have that sort of talent, just that they could always reload?

ALEX WOOD: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I would call it reloading. They already had, I mean, arguably the most talented team in baseball. I mean, you look at their lineup the last two days, you look at every position, and it's All Star, All Star, MVP, All Star, All Star.

So they add Scherzer and Turner, and I think it's past the point of being like, Oh, damn, like, they added Scherzer and Turner. Obviously you're like, Yeah, that's a great addition, but is it the straw that broke the camel's back? I guess we'll find out.

But kind of the same deal. They're just an incredibly good ball club, so no matter who they add at this point and bring in, you expect them to be really, really good no matter who they bring in or who they don't bring in. That's just kind of where they're at. So it's been a fun first two games and it will be a great challenge the rest of the way this series.

Q. You obviously saw a lot of Buster from afar when you were here, but what have you learned about him as a player, as a person, now that you've been his teammate for a year?

ALEX WOOD: I'm glad I don't have to face him anymore. To see what he's done this year, I mean, I played against him a lot over the course of his career. He just, he's just a special player. He's just an absolute professional. He's one of the best pure hitters I've ever played with. You can see it when he wants it -- some guys just are able to go to that next gear at will, and he's one of those people. I think you've seen it the first two games, you've seen it all year. He's healthy. He's felt good. And just to be able to watch him every day has been a blast. It really has.

Q. You mentioned your trust in Farhan and your relationship with him dating back to Los Angeles. What impresses you the most about his ability to build a roster?

ALEX WOOD: Oh, that's a tough question. I guess I would answer that, kind of taking what the game gives you. It applies to us playing the game, but also to him as well. I think he sees value in different people and different areas that other people might not look at or think about. Really, what he does is, it's gambling, right? Like, they're identifying what he thinks could be higher ceiling choices, like steady guys, whatever it may be, and he goes out and he bets on them, you know when I'm saying? I think that's a huge reason why we, our team, is at the point we're at this year.

We have a lot of great players. It's not a Mookie Betts or a Corey Seager or the name that shows up there, but you look at what Darin Ruf's done this year, Wilmer Flores, Anthony DeSclafani, Kevin Gausman, the list goes on. And part of that is being in the right situation and having the right staff and coaches around you to kind of pull that out of you and push you forward and to know that they believe in you and that they need you. I think that he's, him and the whole staff, they do a really great job of that.

Q. You have a lot of postseason experience, but do you feel the weight of the responsibility tomorrow, that one team will take the lead?

ALEX WOOD: Yeah, huge game, obviously, tomorrow, but this is what you play for. I've been in a lot of postseasons, pitched in a lot of big games in the postseason, and tomorrow's no exception. So you show up and you give everything you got. I think after spending the year in San Francisco and then playing over there for five years with a lot of those guys, I'll leave everything I've got out there. I'll give everything that I have for us to win the baseball game and do whatever we need.

So do I look at it as a responsibility? Not to that degree. I look at it more as an opportunity and a chance to see what I'm made of, to prove something to myself truly. And so it will be a good test for me tomorrow and I'm excited for it.

Q. You have a lot more coaches on this team than any team you've ever played for. How does that work?

ALEX WOOD: Everybody's got a job and they do it really well. I think anytime you add to the number of players, the number of coaches, more personalities in the clubhouse, how do those things fit together, we just have a lot of people that are really good at what they do and they care. I don't think, there's really not a bad egg in our clubhouse. Everybody truly gets along. Everybody works hard. Everybody, there's no like Andrew Bailey, the head pitching coach, doesn't let J.P. Martinez, the assistant pitching coach, talk to some guys. There's no Brian Bannister, our pitching coordinator, can't come in and say this to whoever.

Everybody co-exists and they work incredibly well together and they want to help whoever it is, coach, player, front office, for us to achieve and reach the same goal that we all have. I feel like it's a really unique and really great clubhouse and it's been awesome. It doesn't feel like you have that many staff until we had the playoff share meeting and then it felt like there was a lot of staff, but (smiling.)

But, no, it's great. We have such a great group of people in our chemistry. In our clubhouse, from our coaches to front office to players, has really been great.

Q. Dave Roberts said Albert Pujols will start tomorrow at first base. What does that mean to you to face a guy like that on this stage, a guy who is 41, still going at it?

ALEX WOOD: Pretty impressive, right? He's had a pretty good career. I've got to know Albert a little bit and he just, he's been a wonderful guy to me, always nice when I see him, spoken to him a couple times. But to have, to play against him in the postseason after the career he's had and for him to be in the situation he is with the Dodgers, having another shot to go to a World Series is pretty cool. But I'm not putting any more weight into facing Albert tomorrow than I am any of the other guys in their lineup. It will be a good challenge and a good opportunity for me to go up against a guy that's one of the best players to ever do it, but he's one piece of the whole puzzle that I'll try to figure out tomorrow.

Q. Back to what you were saying about the Giants coaches, is there anything that you can identify that they might have sort of unlocked with you this year, whether it's with your pitch mix, with your mechanics or mindset, anything that just sort of helped you sort of get to this point this year being with them?

ALEX WOOD: Yeah, I mean I think not just for me but for everyone, it's Andrew Bailey, J.P., Banny, they all played right? They all played in the big leagues, pitched for awhile, were pretty good players. And then you take the combination of their playing experience and pair that with their the new-found knowledge that they have post career, from the analytical side, the pitch design side, application, all of that stuff and you mesh those two things together and have you recipe for a really good pitching coaching staff. So I think for me and all the other guys to be able to talk about anything this side of the sun when it comes to pitching, game planning, attacking hitters, pitch design, work in between, whatever it may be, you take that combination from all three of those guys and you're going to find a few things over the course of the year that they might help you with or maybe define you.

For example, I had a couple starts where I started losing posture and feeling out of whack, talked to Banny, talked to J.P., talked to Bails, two days later end up getting video and texts from Banny with two overlays from a little bit earlier in the season and just basically talking about I'm getting a little long in the back losing a little bit of posture, let's clean it up, figure out my move and right back on the horse. So just being able to kind of take the things they're telling us and easily apply them and be able to talk with them back and forth has been awesome, for sure.

Q. I want to ask you a little bit more about the fantasy football. So are you also in a league here too still?

ALEX WOOD: No, no, no.

Q. Okay.

ALEX WOOD: Not anymore. I won the league last year, so I moved on to the Giants to try and win the league this year.

Q. Had to drop that in. Okay. All right. So when you were talking to one of your former teammates about fantasy football was it just an advice thing, were you?

ALEX WOOD: We just go back and forth and talk about different players and give each other advice basically.