NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 14, 2021

Dave Roberts

Oracle Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 5 Press Conference

Q. You decided to go with an opener with Corey Knebel. What led to that decision and what do you like about him since you've put him in this position kind of a few times this season?

DAVE ROBERTS: Why we did it? I think it's more of appreciating in one game what we feel gives us the best chance to win. Corey's a guy that I expected to pitch tonight, and so just kind of changing up when he pitches is part of it.

The Giants have been a tremendous ball club all year, and just speaking to the offensive side, they have been the best team in baseball as far as getting matchup advantages, platoon advantages. This allows us to, a little bit, get a neutral pitcher who's done it, who's had success, who's all-in on doing it, and potentially giving us some matchups going forward throughout the game.

Talked to Julio. He's all in on doing it. He's done it in the past, last year in particular, where he thrived. And so when you talk with those two players and just feeling that, again, it gives us the best chance to win a ball game, and he's done it before.

Q. And then what are the challenges as well as kind of the fun part about a Game 5 when it's all hands on deck in preparing your lineup and kind of the different matchups when the Giants haven't yet kind of put out their lineup just yet?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's, the fun part is that there's a lot of variables. It's one game. Anything can flip the momentum or win the game or lose the game. So that's fun. That's exciting.

I think that the familiarity with both clubs and how you're going to kind of best create advantages matchup-wise is the fun part as well. And obviously we haven't got the Giants' lineup yet. That's kind of, I'm sure they're digging in on stuff like that. But the bottom line is that at the end of the day is we still have to execute. We have to make pitches. We have to catch the baseball. And we have to take good at-bats. And whatever team does that best will win the game.

Q. I know that in baseball the rules have become kind of more fluid. Even things like wins aren't valued the way they used to be. Now with that said, we know that players themselves actually still care about these things. Given the year Urías had, didn't it feel like he kind of earned the opportunity to start a game like this? And I don't know, how much did that kind of weigh in? Didn't you want to kind of give it to him, from that standpoint?

DAVE ROBERTS: Absolutely. Without a doubt. I think if you're looking at the player, the person, the probables, and all that kind of stuff, feather in his cap, all that kind of stuff, does he deserve it, do I want that for him. Absolutely.

I think that we have to take the next secondary look and figure out ultimately what gives us the best chance to win the game. And it's not saying he's not going to pitch. I expect him to pitch a lot tonight. And the only thing Julio cares about is winning the ball game. That's what people are going to remember, not who started the game, in my opinion.

So I think that if that is our single overall aligned philosophy and goal, this is the way that we feel is the best -- and having him go deep in the game is also a good thing for us too.

Q. As you say, Julio had a great year. He's done everything you asked of him. So what is the potential downside of just having him start the way he has all year?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, the thing is is that we don't know what's going to happen tonight, and there's down side in him starting, if he were to start the game because you could look at familiarity. He just faced this team five days ago. Those guys stacking and setting the matchups that they want.

There's down side in doing it the way we chose to do this. It's something that, Corey's never started a playoff game.

But I think that ultimately we trust both players can handle this and we expect him to go out there and execute and we feel in one game, with the familiarity of both clubs, this gives us the best chance to win tonight.

Q. Did you consider doing this in Urías's last start against the Giants or did you think about doing it during the regular season at all?

DAVE ROBERTS: We thought about it. We thought about it a little bit in the regular season at times, I think. We did not think about it in Julio's first start. Just seeing Corey's usage up to now, where he's fresh and feels really good, and also having a guy in Julio in just the spot, it just, for us, it became very clear that this gives us the best chance to win and kind of dictate a little bit more of the matchups in the middle part of the game towards the end.

Q. With a team this experienced, do you have any extra confidence going into a game like this or are you worried about even a team like this being a little, being a little tight going into a Game 5?

DAVE ROBERTS: I'm certainly not worried about us being tight. So I think the experience and me knowing our players, I think, can speak to that and validate that.

I just want us to go out there and play good baseball game. So that is the fun part of this, that no one knows how it's going to play out. But as far as being tight, emotions, kind of heart beat, I'm not worried about that.

Q. The way that Julio pitched last year in October for you in different roles as closing out games, starting, how much did that give you confidence that he would be the one guy in your rotation that could actually handle a situation like this tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: He is the one guy, and it's not taking away. It actually would be the biggest compliment to Julio because, not taking away from any of our other starters, but they're very set and fixed in their ways.

Where Julio, because of kind of where, what we've done with him and how we've navigated him throughout his career up to this point, he's had to be flexible and still perform, and he's done that. So I think that having that latitude with him, and his buy-in, is everything and it just speaks to his maturity as a major league ballplayer.

Q. When Julio navigated last October and previous Octobers, he wasn't at the level he is now. This is his first year as an established starter. When you guys have this meeting yesterday to talk about this, do you or does somebody else who played, bring up the mental aspect of the game? Are you risking telling a 20-game winner who finished seventh in the League in ERA that he's not good enough to start Game 5, that he's thinking about that?

DAVE ROBERTS: We brought it up yesterday and kind of laid it out, and how we feel that it's not only about Julio. I think that he's smart enough to understand that it's about other guys, other pitchers, that are going to take the baseball tonight that actually gives him a better chance to perform.

So I think that the first look is to say that it's a slight on Julio, which it's actually, which my compliment to him being, being able to adjust, and also allowing for other guys to have the best opportunity to take down outs.

So I kind of -- so we did lay it out and he completely understood kind of the thought behind it.

Q. Judging from social media, a lot of fans in Los Angeles think that this is your call only. Can you confirm, you said "we," can you confirm it's the organization's decision, and how important is your vote?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's, from all the way to the tippy top of the Dodgers organization on down, it was a decision that we all made together. So that's kind of --

Q. Did you get more than one vote?

DAVE ROBERTS: Do I -- I do not get more than one vote. No, I don't. No, I don't.

Q. Kapler mentioned that you texted him with the change, I guess, last night?

DAVE ROBERTS: I did.

Q. Was there any thought of not doing that, or is it, in your mind, that's like you're going to do it, you're going to make sure the other team knows what you're doing?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, we just felt that, as far as -- it's not a gamesmanship-type thing. It's a decision that we made as an organization that gives us the best chance to win, like I had said earlier.

But I felt that to do right by gamesmanship, to let them know that we changed, because we announced Julio, in the days prior, that he was going to be the starter. So to do right by him, to be forthright, upfront, we did that, and then we announced to the public later.

Q. Going off what he was asking, how many people are in that room, or how many people are talking and making this decision? How many people are involved when you guys make this kind of decision?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I mean there's a handful, there's a handful of people that we make certain decisions as far as kind of who is going to start and this decision was a group of people that we all had to kind of come in -- Mark Prior was a part of it too, obviously -- but the two biggest players were Corey Knebel and Julio Urías. Because if we felt that they felt uncomfortable in any way, we wouldn't do this. We weren't tied to this at all, it was something we brought up, and if those two players -- those are the biggest decision makers in this case.

Q. And when were they informed?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yesterday about this time, about 24 hours ago.

Q. And then with Gavin in center field, you mentioned you weren't sure if you were going to put him out there. What ultimately led you to putting him out in center field at Oracle Park?

DAVE ROBERTS: I just think the foot speed out there, I think being flanked by CT and Mookie, and when Julio does get in the game I think that when they decide to go heavy right, the left field plays, left field position plays more, in my opinion.

Q. Did you think that this was maybe riskier than just going the traditional route? I mean, did you think about that?

DAVE ROBERTS: Absolutely. It certainly -- I wouldn't say riskier, I think that what it does is it opens up for criticism. But I think that you can't do a job for fear of failure or potential criticism. I think that you have to do your job given whatever you feel is the best way to win the game. And I think that, yeah, so I do think that, I don't think it's riskier, I think it's just, it's different. Doesn't mean it's riskier, it's different. But it does open up for potential criticism, which I'm imagining is already out there. But I feel great that we're all aligned in this as an organization and the players, like I said, are with us in lockstep and now the bottom line is we still have to go out there and execute and make pitches and win or lose I know there's going to be no excuses in our clubhouse, which for me matters most.

Q. Did you flash back at all to the Milwaukee game in the LCS a few years ago where they used an opener with Miley, kind of a surprise, you guys didn't, and you won that game. Like different circumstances, but did any of that enter your mind?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, I think it's just completely, it's two different ball clubs, it's a different team. I think that this is one game that really, in past, it has no bearing on tonight. Anyone can kind of look at what happened a week ago, a year ago and try to find parallels, but it has no bearing on tonight's game.

Q. Vin Scully just tweeted that he thinks this is the most important game in the history of the Giants and Dodgers. Your initial thoughts on that and kind of a --

DAVE ROBERTS: Now I feel pressure. (Laughing).

Gosh darn it, Vin.

Q. Yeah, so in that light, your initial thoughts on that, about the pressure and just the chance to make history. You obviously have great history with the Red Sox-Yankees and how it can be a life-changing moment tonight for some guys.

DAVE ROBERTS: I really don't like to get beyond one game, so thanks for sharing that. I mean, yeah, it's, to kind of take my manager's cap off, it's a great day, it's a big game. For Vin to say that, no one knows this rivalry better than he does, so it just gives you the gravity of this, what it means. And it's bigger than just one game and that's what's beautiful about this rivalry, sports in general. So we're going to enjoy it, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Q. Feels like a lot of these questions are sort of built on the idea that you might manage this game differently than you would obviously like a random game in April. So I'm curious if you think that like managing a win-or-go-home game is a skill that you've gotten better at, if it's something that like a manager learns, because obviously you have a lot more experience with that than Gabe does.

DAVE ROBERTS: I would like to think that learning through things that I think that have gone well, that haven't gone well with my decision making will help tonight. The bottom line is that I believe in the guys in the room. Yeah, you're managing for one game, so all your pieces, your players are in play. You have to try to get every edge, win every margin you can, if it makes sense. So that part is fun.

I do think the experience will help but the bottom line is that we have to play good baseball and so that's why all this talk, it's great, but then the only thing that matters is when 6:08 hits and that first pitch is made and two great teams are going to go head-to-head tonight. And playing X amount of times we played and all the numbers kind of similar to one another, runs created, prevented, all that stuff, and we both won 109 games and this is going to be a lot of fun.