NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 17, 2021

Dansby Swanson

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Can you tell us what that was like last night. You go through the NLCS last year and Dallas and, just what was it like to play in front of the home crowd last night?

DANSBY SWANSON: It was phenomenal. I feel like, it's such a shame like we got to miss out, obviously, on playing in front of our fans last year, but they got to miss out on that experience of what it's like, especially in Truist. It's never happened in Truist and to be able to have that opportunity this time around is special for sure.

Q. Is that why you spent all those hours with Wash before the game on those short hops, for a play like that in the 9th and just that moment right there and how it kept everybody energized and positive, the way you bounced back in the bottom?

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, any moment, right? I mean, we prepare the same way because defensively you never know what's going to happen in the game. There's so many different phases to this game that allows for your team to be successful, and that's kind of why we prepare the way we do every day is because whether it's that play, whether it's any other ground ball that we get, what we simulate with Wash, essentially, is giving us the best chance to be successful defensively that day.

And it's a routine, it's like a routine and a confidence-type thing that we know, that we know and believe in the work that we're doing, and that that's going to set us up for success when we step out there.

Q. I know Austin Riley doesn't really care about the accolades and everything, but seeing what he's done here in the postseason and him getting the national recognition he has, how happy are you that the national stage is seeing him, a lot of people are learning about how good he is?

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, he deserves it, especially just because he came up and had such a big splash and then kind of had to learn his way through the big leagues. And then I feel like in this day and age, like as soon as we come up, we all have a comp, right? And we have a comp to someone of what our ceiling could be and what they were in their prime and when you're not that immediately, it's kind of like, okay, well, this person's not any good.

I feel like that happens so often in any sport nowadays, right? You look at quarterbacks in the NFL, if they're not good after one year, get them out, right? And it's just really cool to see his growth as a player, to see his experience over the last two or three years really pay off to this point, and obviously to be doing it on a stage like this is special for somebody that's still so young that I don't think people truly realize how young he is still.

So I love him to death. He's one of my best friends and I'm just happy that he's playing the way he is.

Q. You obviously grew up here and you were a big sports fan. Because of that do you feel like you sort of have a good sense of the thirst that Atlanta sports fans have for another championship, whether it's the Braves or just anybody?

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, I know what it feels like. I'm a little off-edge today because the Falcons have a bye week this week. I got up early last week and watched them while they were in London. And I'm an Atlanta lifer. It was funny because when we were in New York earlier this year is when the Hawks were playing the Knicks and all the clubhouse folks for the Nets were giving mow a hard time saying that they were going to beat the Hawks and obviously that didn't even come close to happening.

But, yeah, I mean, just being here, understanding what sports culture is like here, understanding how invested people are and ultimately kind of how this city has fallen short a lot of times, has led to a lot of frustration. But I think that this team is really good about just continuing to fight and battle for everything that we've earned and this year obviously it was a tough one, throughout the whole thing, but we're just going to continue climbing.

Q. Speaking of defense, that play where Austin kind of crossed in front of you and you used your spidey sense to get the ball, that something you practice too?

DANSBY SWANSON: I'm sure when I was a kid I probably did throw balls off the wall and try and catch them with my eyes shut because I was probably a stupid little kid.

But, no, I really don't know. There's no explanation, other than the ball went into my glove, right? Like I just, we can call it a little bit of luck. But it's funny because even in that moment just, we even kind of said, I was like, I could be better about even preventing that from the beginning and just like letting him know like he didn't even need to go get it because, if he's not in, if he doesn't cross over, then it's a normal play anyways. But he's aggressive in trying to make a play.

But, yeah, I don't really know how I did it. I just, I guess you take so many ground balls sometimes maybe you can do it with your eyes closed. I don't know.

Q. Facing Max Scherzer, you obviously have a lot of experience with him when with the Nationals. What's the biggest challenge with facing a pitcher like him?

DANSBY SWANSON: He's really good. I mean, he, in every way I feel like he's, there's a reason he's won what, three Cy Youngs and could potentially get his fourth this year. I feel like, not that, I wouldn't say he's reinvented himself since he's gone to L.A., but I really feel like they have done a good job of maximizing his strengths and kind of putting himself in an even better position to be successful than he was in Washington.

But the other thing that, his just competitive edge on the mound is something that's always a part of what he does as well, so I feel like you just got to go out there and kind of try and -- I'm not going to say match his aggressiveness, but you got to be ready to compete because he's all in too, which is the reason why I love facing him.

Q. As a guy who has experienced that, winning a championship at the highest level of your sport, at Vanderbilt --

DANSBY SWANSON: I like that shout-out. Thanks.

Q. Do you have an especially strong desire to do it again once you've done it and know how great it is? And when you get as close as you guys were last year to going to the World Series, is there a feeling maybe that you get that others who haven't experienced that, a desire even more to want to do that?

DANSBY SWANSON: Each one is different. When we were at school it was -- I'm not going to say in a similar way to here, but when we were in school, Vanderbilt had never won a men's national title in any sport, so it was kind of like uncharted waters.

Then once we did it, the biggest challenge was, like you said, to not necessarily keep that hunger, but it's every year you have a different kind of like target and goal and I feel like there's just different ways to channel that. I wouldn't say that we were, our goal was to win the National Championship. Our goal was to be the best team that we could be, right? And it turned out that we played our best ball at the end where we could win.

And then the next year you had to come up with a little bit of a different avenue to get to that same thing. So I think for us, I feel like we've learned that if your goal is to win the Division, once you win it, what else after that is there, right? Like, you kind of, you're like, okay, well, we accomplished what we set out to do. Well, what's the end game?

I feel like each year we've gotten better at learning that there's steps along the way that are to be celebrated and that you obviously want to earn, but that's not the ultimate goal, right? And I feel like this year I've really noticed a difference just in terms of winning the Division and then winning the Division Series. Yes, we enjoyed the moment and celebrated it, as you should, but I feel like everyone was ready for the next step and I feel like that's kind of been the biggest difference this year as opposed to years in the past.

And even this year fighting to where we got to took so long that, in the past couple years I felt like the last week of the season we were kind of like, I'm not going to say over it, we were just kind of put it in a different gear and I feel like that hurt us once we got to the postseason.

But this year we had to continue to fight all the way until the last week. So even when we clinched we were still in that mode of grinding and kind of in rhythm for what we wanted to do. I feel like that's kind of been a big difference for us this year.

Q. Charlie kind of established himself in that 2017 postseason. What do you remember about that postseason, but specifically Game 7 at Dodger Stadium there, those final four innings?

DANSBY SWANSON: To be honest, didn't really watch. That was kind of a tough year for me anyway, so I just kind of separated myself from baseball after that.

But I've always known that Charlie's been, he's a big-time postseason pitcher. He's a big-time pitcher in general but there's just something about this time of year where nothing seems to phase him. He just continues to make his pitches and it doesn't matter if people are on, if nobody's on, what the score says, he's just going to go out and do his thing.

Q. You mentioned Max and his competitive nature and you could see that physically, running out on the field, etcetera. But Ian's like the 180 of that, right? What about him and his demeanor that has allowed him to never lose and have a sub .1 ERA in this postseason?

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, I mean, his demeanor may not be the same, but I know his mindset's the same. I mean, he's a competitor. He wants to win. He wouldn't be able to do what he's doing without that competitive edge. Everyone's got different ways of going about it and his may not be the same as a guy like Max Scherzer's is, but he does it in his own way, which I think is kind of special and unique to him, especially at that age, right, like you don't see somebody that is, I don't even know how old he is, but I know he's young. I know he's younger than me. I feel old these days.

Q. 24.

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, but he goes about it his own way and doing it at such a young age is kind of rare, right? But, no, he's been good for us this time of the year.

Q. I know you guys haven't been out because of still what's going on, but do you get a sense of how light this team is when you grab a couple of coffee in the morning, when you had an opportunity, it's one thing to be a team that's a good team and people respect it and stand up and cheer, but the idea that this group seems to be very well liked seems to be something that's pervasive in my job when I hear it from people how much they enjoy this team.

DANSBY SWANSON: Yeah, I think, well, at the end of the day we have guys at every position that do things the right way. I feel like we as a team are, we treat each other well and I feel like that rubs off on to people. You can tell we genuinely care about each other and that we want each other to succeed, we want to hang out in the locker room as much as we can, we try and create an experience for one another that's like very family like and I feel like that really inspires cities and inspires communities and inspires people to do the same kind of thing and you can tell it's very genuine, like our love and care for each other, and I think that that's just really something that's special about this team. And they have done a great job of consistently building that kind of atmosphere year in and year out.

Q. With your infield as great as it was this year, do you guys compare yourself to other infields, maybe infields in the past, like, okay, we have the most home runs, most RBIs, most games played, is there one stat in there that kind of blows you guys away?

DANSBY SWANSON: The one thing I think that makes our infield group so special is that none of that matters. I think we're, like I said earlier, we're just in such a day and age where it's all about comparison because I guess it's something we enjoy talking about, you know. But the beauty of our infield group especially is the only comparison we care about is winning. Like that's what each of us wants to do and whatever it is, that's what we're trying to do. And I feel like having four guys like that on the infield, but a whole team of guys like that, is huge. I feel like just ever since that we got, after the trade deadline, when we were able to kind of fully put together a lineup, that's what we do, we play to win, I feel like we've been doing that this postseason and we're going to continue to do that. But to answer your question, we kind of leave that up to ya'll, we just go out there and do our thing.