MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 25, 2021

Joc Pederson

Minute Maid Park

Atlanta Braves

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Another World Series with a different team this time. Your thoughts? Does it feel a little bit different being with this squad? And is that a new strand of pearls for the World Series?

JOC PEDERSON: It's pretty cool making the World Series with another team. Obviously, our job is not finished. We have to win four more games, but it feels different because I think with the Dodgers there's an expectation it's World Series or bust. I don't think that was necessarily the expectation, especially the way the Braves season went to start. We really had to grind and work for it.

So I think when you get a group of guys like that and everything starts clicking at the end, it's really fun, and it's really exciting.

Q. What about the pearls?

JOC PEDERSON: No, same set. I've only had one and still wearing this one, yeah.

Q. I was just wondering what in all of your World Series appearances have you learned that it takes to be able to win a ring?

JOC PEDERSON: Just score more runs than the other team. No, I don't know. I mean, stay calm. It gets super hectic out there. It's loud. Momentum swings and just being able to separate something.

There's going to be some type of big play from the other team, whether they hit a home run or you make an error and they score a run, or something's going to happen that is going to go for the other team.

It's just how you let the moment continue to spiral, and they build on it, or are you able to, all right, that was a mess up, or they scored. Deep breath. Slow it back down. Get back to executing and continue to do what got us here.

Q. Alex said a couple days after you got there, you started talking to the clubhouse about how, when we get to the postseason this, when we get to the World Series, whatever. That attitude that you tried to bring to the club, at what point in time did you start buying in to I see this and I see that and this team can make some noise in October?

JOC PEDERSON: Probably last year when we had to play this team, and we were down 3-1 in the series.

You saw how talented they were, and we were extremely fortunate that it was a seven-day, seven-game series where depth played a huge role.

You could see the talent off the charts -- the bullpen, the players, everything like that. I don't know, I kind of came over, and they have dealt with a lot of injuries and whatnot. It was a little sad and quiet in the locker room, but I don't know, I was like this isn't the team that I looked at across from the other side.

Stephen Vogt got there like a day or two after me, and we were just talking about how weird and quiet it was in the thing, and he was like, man, I'm too old to put up with this, like we're going to do everything we can to change it. And we kind of, I don't know, just continued to instill the confidence in these great players. They were already good, but I think it just they'd been kicked down a couple times and a couple injuries, and the mojo wasn't there. So we did everything we can to get the mojo going.

Q. So what did you do to get the mojo going?

JOC PEDERSON: I don't know (laughter). Show up, say hey. I don't know, just show some love to some people. There's just different ways to go about it to -- you've got to kind of find out how each individual, they tick, and what motivates them or what inspires them or builds confidence in them and kind of just keep pushing those buttons to make you feel like you're a bad MF because that's the way you've got to compete on the field.

All the best ones, the great ones do that. Yeah, that's -- it is what it is. That's the sport.