NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 12, 2021

Travis D'arnaud

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Braves - 5, Brewers - 4

Q. Freddie is coming up to the plate. I'm not saying you're not expecting a home run, but are you expecting something special in that moment from Freddie?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Definitely. He's had great at-bats against Hader all year. I was thinking get on base and maybe Ozzie hit a double. I didn't expect an opposite-field home run and the tongue came out. Wow, it was special. Definitely didn't see it coming.

Q. Freddie was saying whenever you found out that Soler wasn't going to be able to play, it was crazy. Everybody was -- could you replay that, what was going on there in the clubhouse?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: It was tough. He's been such a huge part of our team this year to even get to this point and wouldn't be here without him. And a couple hours before the game, we found it out. And it was devastating. It was devastating. It was devastating news.

Q. Anybody in the clubhouse say anything at all?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: No, I mean, we kind of faced adversity all year. We just made sure we focussed on the game and go out there and try to win be able to advance. But like I said, it's still devastating that he's not here.

Q. You've seen Freddie celebrate and have some huge moments over the last couple of years, but seemed like there was just a little bit more emphatic celebrating with him when he was rounding the bases this time. How exhilarating was that?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: It was cool. I don't think I've ever seen him emotional that before. But who wouldn't be that emotional sending us to the NLCS? That's so cool. I'm so happy for him to come up in that big moment for us when we needed him the most.

He's been there for us all year. What's he played, like, 160 games, something like that? For him to get that emotional, it fired us all up, honestly.

Q. Travis, do you feel the season embodies what the whole team, but also what you went through just to get back and be in that position to play and contribute like you did?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Definitely. We had a lot of ups and downs. Up until July we were still under .500. And Double-A did his thing and brought us Joc and brought us Jorge and brought us Eddie. Brought us Duvy and Rich-Rod. Just showed that he still believed in us.

And we all just got even closer as a group and as a team and we started having fun again.

I think Joc coming loosened everybody up. We all know his pedigree, his resumé, everything he's been through. For him to come over and just be so, just be Joc basically, and especially when we were, like I said, a few games below .500, I think it let everybody know we would be all right regardless of how tough the year's been.

For us to be where we are now with the adversity we've been through, it's been huge and it's been a battle. And we're all just so thankful to be here.

Q. You guys go for the jugular today by having Charlie pitch on short rest. I wanted to know what you thought about his performance pitching on short rest. I think it's only the second time in his career that he's done it. And the job the bullpen did having to pick up the last five innings or so.

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: We needed him today. We needed him. Corbin Burnes is a Cy Young candidate. I mean, top pitcher, top two pitchers in the league. He's not a fun at at-bat. We knew we had to come out on top today.

And for Charlie to go on short rest when we needed him to, that's very big. And I think it's huge for the younger guys to see, is it's playoff time. And when the team needs you you've got to be there and just play.

Q. (Indiscernible) just in general the bullpen.

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: The bullpen did a tremendous job. Everyone knew they had an opportunity to go in before the game. I could tell they were all just locked in. If their name was called they were going to be ready.

That team over there is an excellent team. And for us to limit them to six runs the whole series is huge. And the bullpen did a tremendous job the whole series, especially today. I mean, we got them to four runs and we held them there.

Even Ynoa gave up a couple, but he kept them at a couple. He didn't let them keep scoring, keep scoring. And Jesse came in. They scored two there, but still he still limited it to only two. And to limit that team to only four runs with our offense is huge.

Q. You guys got to the Game 7 in the NLCS last year with a more mature rotation. Are you maybe in a better position this year?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: We feel very good heading to the NLCS this year, regardless of who we're playing. We've got a great pitching staff. Three studs on the mound. Shoot, all our guys are nasty.

It's a blessing to work with all of them every single day. So we're all very confident going in and just keep this thing rolling.

Q. How sweet was it just to be able to clinch at home? And how crucial is it to kind of have these extra days now to prepare for --

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: That's so big. Everybody played -- basically the same guys played every day. The same bullpen guys went out there every day. So to get those couple of extra days off would be nice for us. And then to clinch in front of home fans was awesome.

I think the coolest thing was -- I get it that that call was unreviewable, but the crowd, like, really got into it and it fired us all up. And we were able to tie it back up that inning.

Q. You guys just saw the Dodgers and Giants last month and played some really tight games with both teams. Just how excited are you to go up against either one of those again?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: We're super excited. They both had over 100 wins. They both had the best NL records, too? So I mean they're both great teams. We're looking forward to playing either one of them.

It's going to be a hell of a series. A lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. By nature of your position, you might have more interaction with more of the coaching staff. Can you just talk a little bit about that group?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Oh, the coaching staff has been tremendous. Like I said, the adversity we went through, we wouldn't be here without them. They were all even keeled through the whole year. They all work together so well. They bust balls all the time and get each other to laugh which rubs off on us and gets us to laugh all the time.

To have the leadership day in and day out is tremendous, especially in the dog days when everybody has something bugging them. They've done a tremendous job and we wouldn't be here without them.

Q. Along those lines with all the guys you lost this year and things went wrong, Freddie was also pretty consistent. Could you talk about what he was like on the field, off the field, when all this stuff was going on this year?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: He's the same every day. Same person every day, same player every day, good, bad. I think that's a very valuable piece to have throughout 162 games when you're going through downs and your leader is there just staying calm, being himself the whole time. Not getting too high. Not getting too low.

We all just observed and feed off of that and try to be just like him. And I want to hit a home run to get us to the NLCS. So I'm going to try to be like him again.

Q. Who had the best champagne celebration? And was it Joc?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Of course it was Joc. Of course it was Joc. Spraying champagne everywhere with a cigar in his mouth. And of course he had his pearls on. Yeah, he had a lot of fun.

And Ozzie had fun, too. Will Contreras and Ynoa had lot of fun. And those are moments I'll never forget, that nobody will ever forget.