NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 16, 2021

Dave Roberts

Truist Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. You're going with Corey Knebel to start the game. Are you looking at today as looking more like a bullpen game or what did Max Scherzer say just kind of how he was feeling when you guys heard back from him yesterday?

DAVE ROBERTS: It is going to be a bullpen game. We'll, I feel confident that we'll be able to prevent runs tonight using various options, arms.

As far as Max, it was something that we knew going in to use him in that game, obviously a leverage spot, there might be a cost. And just kind of talked to him yesterday. Was a little kind of arm tired and so just thinking through it, just giving him the best opportunity to have success in a start, which ultimately is going to be Game 2. I think in 2019 he pitched in relief, I think it was against us, and then two days later made a start, but that's different than one day.

So I think that we were prepared for whatever cost it was and so we'll start Max Game 2 and then Walker will go Game 3 and then Julio will go Game 4.

Q. What went into going with Bruihl and Evan Phillips and leaving David Price and McKinney off the roster?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I think the first part is we wanted, in a seven-game series, potential seven-game series, we wanted the extra arm. So that took McKinney off, took McKinney out of the equation, in our opinion. So that's that.

And as far as Bruihl, he has pitches with certain left-handers that the spin that goes away and sinker in, it just matches up better with some of the guys that potentially he might face.

With Phillips, I think that his pitch mix with this particular lineup matched better. So with David and his experience, it was a very difficult call for us.

Q. You said there would be no letdown, but at least for one game, given what y'all came from in San Francisco, how do you prevent that?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, this is a very big, it's a big series. It's a very big ball game. And I think that going into the postseason we expected there to be some high moments and some tough moments and it's kind of how you respond. So knowing you're going to have to deal with that, I think that after whatever happens, we know how we're going to respond.

I mean, honestly, our only focus is to prevent runs tonight and to win a baseball game. And like I said, I feel confident the guys are going to run out there, and it's going to boil down to us taking good at-bats against Max Fried, who is pitched really well in big games, but we have seen him. But as far as kind of the psyche, the mentality, not a concern at all. We'll be ready.

Q. Why a strict sort of bullpen game and not just maybe using a bulk guy like Tony Gonsolin with another game tomorrow?

DAVE ROBERTS: Tony's going to be in the mix tonight. He was supposed to pitch Game 4, but then where we were at last series we decided to go Walker on short. So he'll be in the mix and we just chose and felt that it was best for him not to start the game, but I expect him to pitch well, and I've got a lot of confidence in Tony.

Q. How stretched out is he right now?

DAVE ROBERTS: Tony can, I would say something fair is feeling good about 60 to 75 pitches.

Q. Some of your left-handed hitters, thinking about Cody and Gavin, had come up big recently, but you went with a right-handed heavy lineup today. What was the thought process there?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think, you looked at Fried and the guys that we potentially could run out there, I just, I think we have better options and I think that that's part of having depth. So you put guys in the best position to have success.

There's certainly a situation where I can see any one of those guys coming off the bench and impacting the game, but right now, to start the game I just felt that running those guys out there gives the best chance against Max.

Q. Last year after you won the NLCS against Atlanta, do you get the sense that if we get back next year we're probably going to have to run through these guys again?

DAVE ROBERTS: Not to discount any other team because obviously the Giants were the best team in the regular season all year, the Brewers are always scary with that pitching. But the Braves kind of overall, seeing us run it back again, no surprise.

Q. I think this is the fifth NLCS in your six years at the helm. Just kind of getting back to the stage year after year after year, how do you feel you handle the stress of managing in games like this?

DAVE ROBERTS: I internalize a lot. I think for me it's, I find time for quiet time. I think there's a lot of noise outside the clubhouse, inside the clubhouse, so I think personally for me, I get away, whether it's 30 minutes, an hour, I try to kind of, it allows me to reset and have clarity because I've learned that when I don't do that, things speed up.

So I think that I can, I try to make sure I get time for myself and get away.

Q. The difference between managing a 26-man roster versus 25, can I just ask but that, and then do you like this? Do you think this should be the number going forward?

DAVE ROBERTS: I love the shortened rosters in the regular season, not the complete expansion. In the postseason, I like it. I don't mind it. I think the one extra player just adds another piece to the strategy. I'm okay with it.

Q. I know it wasn't necessarily planned out that you would have as many bullpen games as you did during the regular season, but is there anything you can sort of take as an advantage of just having rolled it out there knowing who gets how many outs and managing through a game like that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think certainly, certainly, and I think that we're starting to understand that when you're talking about pitching and run prevention, I think that getting guys in the right spots and lanes and, gives them a good chance to prevent, to get outs.

So with our guys, Corey's done it a handful of times, as far as start. Certain guys that I might call on to come in in the 2nd or 3rd inning, they're used to that. So I think that where most relievers need their routine and they get down to the pen at a certain point in the game, where our guys are used to that more so because of the circumstances that we had this year. So I think, I do think that as far as kind of that part of it, it's certainly an advantage or benefit.

Q. When the Ray's kind of, I guess, started the whole opener thing, it's obviously taken off. What did you first think of that idea and when did you become comfortable with it enough --

DAVE ROBERTS: I hated it. I hated it. It wasn't baseball. I like to see the starters, and starters go deep, but when you sit in this chair, you're trying to win games. That's the bottom line.

So it doesn't matter how appealing it is or what it is. If -- the goal is to prevent runs on the pitching side. And so where they kind of got out ahead of it as far as finding their roster, their relievers, and matching them up best against an opposing offense and where opposing managers have been late to the party as far as not wanting to swap guys out or construct a lineup a certain way to prevent that.

And to be quite honest, the Rays kind of captured a marginal advantage for a few years. So the industry's catching up. But to your question, I hated it because it was different, but I've learned to kind of soften on different is not always bad.

Q. The conversation you referenced with Max yesterday, was that after the workout last night and did he lobby to get this start? And on the other side, did you think about with the arm tiredness did you think about Game 3 instead of Game 2 for him?

DAVE ROBERTS: Max said he would do whatever we asked, so that's, if that's called lobbying. That's called being a good teammate, in my opinion. This happened last night after the work out. Ultimately it was, I can take the ball, I'll go as long as I can, I don't know what it's going to be like. Versus if I take the extra day and start on Game 2, I can give us a full start. So for us that's a no-brainer. When you're talking about a five-game series it might have been a different conversation, but when you're talking about potential seven games that you have to win four, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us.

Q. Mentioning what you said about the opener, do you still feel sort of like an internal tug between what you loved about the game when you played it versus what it takes to win in 2021?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know, I don't. I don't. I don't. Because I think that, at the core, what got me and I think a lot of people into baseball is the players and the superstars in the game itself. But the game within the game I think is something that I learned to appreciate more. But I think that, for some reason, baseball fans are hesitant to hop on board of the game within the game. So when you're talking about an opener or having relievers face certain parts of the lineup, that's the game within the game and digging on why that particular manager wants to use that pitcher in that lane instead of saying, it's stupid, I don't like it, it's not sexy to me. I mean, that just doesn't make sense.