NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 16, 2021

Corey Seager

Truist Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. I know that momentum within the sport of baseball is something that can be pretty tricky, but is there something to just kind of riding the emotions, from winning the Wild Card, beating the Giants in that big series, to kind of coming here to Atlanta to allow things to get going early for you guys?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, that's the key to a series is always to try and get out and get the first one under your belt and score early, score as often as possible, and just hopefully ride the momentum from the past series, like were you talking about.

Q. How would you describe like how amped Max Scherzer was after he recorded the final out against the Giants?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, that was pretty cool to see that emotion come out like that from him, a guy who is kind of been there before, maybe not closed but been in situations like that, and to see that emotion it makes you just as excited.

Q. What has kind of struck you about being his teammate these last few weeks? What have you learned about him that maybe you didn't before?

COREY SEAGER: I think he's just as advertised. He's straightforward. He let's you know how he feels. He let's you know when he's ready. And he's a gamer. He likes the ball. He likes to be out there. He likes to attack people. It's been fun to watch.

Q. You guys have had a lot of success in bullpen games this season. Is that something that you kind of had to come around to getting used to, this idea that it was a go-to strategy for winning games and not kind of a last resort, like it often is for a lot of teams?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, it's definitely different, but that being our strength, it's only played to our advantage. We got some really good guys back there and for them to be able to go out and throw the ball for nine innings, it's definitely, you give them full credit for it . To be able to do that, to be able to perform, and then come back out the next night and throw back-to-back innings and back-to-back days and stuff like that, that's not easy to do, and for them to be able to do that all year and kind of carry us when we needed them it's been huge.

Q. Last year when you guys played the Braves there was no travel involved. How much of an adjustment has it been already in the beginning of the postseason to get back to going city to city, rather than just staying in one spot?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, it definitely has affected you. It was kind of nice in that sense of the bubble, not having to leave and kind of being in one place, getting used to it.

But it's just, everybody has to go through it. You re-learn how to do it. You get your rest on the plane. You try and sleep as much as possible and just be ready to go that night.

Q. When another team is running a bullpen game against you guys, do you ever get annoyed at the idea you only get like one look at a pitcher per game?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, it's tough. Seeing a different arm, most of the time it's kind of back and forth, most of the time you don't even see back-to-back lefties. It's definitely challenging. It's definitely nice seeing guys the second time, third time through, if possible, so it's something you just got to adjust to and try and go out and compete.

Q. There was so much emotion in San Francisco, how do you avoid, at least for this one game, how do you avoid an emotional letdown?

COREY SEAGER: Emotional letdown? What do you mean?

Q. Well it's because the atmosphere's not going to be anything like it was in San Francisco here, the opponent isn't the same, it's a whole different thing.

COREY SEAGER: I don't know if I agree with you. All the playoff games are emotional. You got to be able to contain them and use them at the same time. So we're going to go out there and try and have as much energy as possible and play good baseball.

Q. We asked Kenley this the other day, because there's so many significant players on this team, potential free agents, yourself, him, Kershaw, Scherzer. Is there any "Last Dance" quality to it, referring to the Bulls documentary?

COREY SEAGER: I don't know if anybody thinks about that. Right now you're just in the moment. You're trying to figure out how to beat Max Fried tonight, stuff like that. So it's never about really looking forward, it's about today and how we win today and we'll figure out how to win tomorrow and stuff like that.

Q. So how do you beat Max Fried?

COREY SEAGER: That's a good question, I wish I had the answer to it. He's tough, especially when he's got his stuff. You just got to battle with the big curve ball, you try and keep the slider in the strike zone as much as possible and defend the heater basically. When he's got all three of them working though he's a tough guy to beat.