NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 23, 2021

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 6 Press Conference

Atlanta Braves - 4, Los Angeles Dodgers - 2

Q. What does this feel like?

BRIAN SNITKER: I'm not sure I'm feeling yet, honestly. I'm kind of number. Pretty good feeling, though. Just happy for the guys, the organization. Yeah, it's pretty good.

Q. Could you just take us through your emotions when that last out is made, just what you're thinking?

BRIAN SNITKER: I just kind of sat in my chair and them guys swamped me. There were a lot. I was just hoping I could, honestly, just hoping I could hold it together because it was pretty, a lot comes at you after all the years and everything you go through and now to be able to experience this, it's really something really cool.

Q. When times were tough during the season and you kept staying positive about, we'll go on a run, this is going to happen, could you have even imagined that this could be a possibility?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, I think, yeah, you hope it is. I meant that too because I thought, you know, even teams that don't have great years get on a run. Even the bad teams. We hadn't got on a run yet and we weren't a bad team. We just had a hard time putting everything together for an extended period of the season.

But we were a good team and I just kept thinking, man, our best baseball's ahead of us, at some point in time, and then I think Alex helped that out a lot with the acquisitions, and then we kind of got rolling. I think that 9-0 road trip, we had, we played nine games against teams that you're supposed to beat, which is really hard to do. There's a lot of teams in the Division that went on those and it's easy to lose those games too.

But we won that. That's something that you just don't do and I think that was a big thing that kind of kicked us ahead a little bit.

Q. At the start of the year you guys were tagged as a potential World Series team and then obviously a lot of stuff went wrong after that. The fact that you're going to be there now does it almost make it sweeter?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah. No, I know Alex and I talked about this. When we won this Division we were like this is probably the most gratifying one of the four, just for everything that we went through maybe with individual players, with injuries, just trying to get the thing on track. So this is really special right now. I'm so proud of this group of guys.

Q. Following up something earlier about your emotions. You said just a lot of things went through your mind. Obviously you've had an incredible journey yourself. Did you have certain pictures that went through your mind of your career at that moment or anything?

BRIAN SNITKER: I thought of Ronnie. I mean, everything that she, I know that she's been real emotional through a lot of this, and rightly so. She's the one that drug our kids all over the Southeast and I would leave in February and come home in September and she would hold a job and cheerleading and baseball and all that and it was a lot of that stuff, the kids setting up a pro shop in Myrtle Beach and my daughter getting on a chair and singing root, root, root for my daddy's team at the 7th inning stretch, and Troy, who I told somebody, it's like the Snitker's are going to have a World Series trophy in their house here. I don't know who is going to own it, but we're going to have one. So that's a pretty cool thing too.

Q. The job that your bullpen did today, especially the lefties, talk about that and how big of an asset that will be going forward in the series?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, I think huge. Our lefties were, our bullpen was unbelievable this whole series. What Minter and Matzek did today was just phenomenal. And Matzek's been doing it the entire series.

I said I would like to cut that MVP thing up and give him a little piece of it because that guy was just spectacular the whole series. Minter pulled down two innings the other day, pulled down two innings today. He's been throwing, all of them, they have just been so, so good. It was big hit by AD to kind of keep the line moving there in the inning that Eddie hit the homer.

But the bullpen, them guys, like I say, they had two days off, which was awesome. Now they're going to get two more off, which is even better because those guys have been huge for us the last six weeks of the season when we were in that win mode where we had to win in order to make this happen.

Q. You think about those three guys, AJ had to go back to the minors this year, Rosario was hurt when you got him, you don't know what he's got to offer, and Matzek, last year you said what about that lefty?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah I did. Yeah. I remember coming into 2.0. It was like remember that lefty striking everybody out in spring training? It's like I don't know that, I don't even remember his name. Like what was his name? He wasn't on the list. It's like maybe we ought to bring this kid in here.

I have so much admiration for him, what he's been through in his career. There's another one that it hasn't been easy for him either and he's had to go back a bunch in order to come forward and how he's handled all that is just, it amazes me, just the perseverance and everything that this guy's been through.

Q. What else can you say about what Rosario continues to do and how important he's been to the team?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's just amazing how locked in he is. I mean, I said it doesn't matter what arm they're throwing with he's just so locked in. I don't know that I've ever seen a guy like that for, this has been a long, awhile now that, what he's been doing. It's been something else. Obviously it's really cool. And I think I told you earlier, it's kind of the reports that we got from the guys in Minnesota that knew him that this was a guy that you want up in a big situation and he had a bunch of big situations in this series.

Q. I actually know the answer to this because I looked it up, but do you know where you were '99, last time the Braves went to the World Series?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah. Myrtle Beach, I believe. We won a championship in Myrtle Beach that year, actually. Yeah, I do know. (Laughing) Yeah. I said I can't remember what I had for breakfast most days and I remember where I was in '99. That's good. (Laughing).

Q. You would have been happy clinching anywhere, but to do it with this crowd and to have the ceremony on the field.

BRIAN SNITKER: This was just perfect. I mean, you want to clinch, you're just never guaranteed tomorrow what's going to happen. But that was something special out there. Just the fans, that place was rocking today, has been the whole series, all year. I mean, like I said, Braves country's a real thing. It is a powerful, powerful element to our game. And those guys appreciate that, they love their fans. It's amazing how they came out today and supported those guys.

Q. You said that all the coaches swarmed you there. At what point in time do you think you looked up and said, this is real, where you're out there on the field, tell me --

BRIAN SNITKER: I mean, one of them was yelling in my ear and, yeah, I did. Instead of jumping up, Walt grabbed me and it took a minute, honestly, just to -- it's like, Oh, my God, this is really happening. What a special feeling though, my God. Yeah, it's pretty cool.