AL WILD CARD SERIES: MARINERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 7, 2022

Scott Servais

Rogers Centre

Seattle Mariners

Pregame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Scott Servais.

Q. In terms of setting the roster, were there any real last-minute things you guys were wrangling with there, or was it pretty cut and dried?

SCOTT SERVAIS: Unfortunately, we had a few injuries here the last week or so that led to the addition of Taylor Trammell and Abe Toro on the roster, with Sam Haggerty going down, along with Jesse Winker. That was a little bit different. Something we weren't anticipating, but you have to make adjustments. Things happen.

On the pitching side, have a good idea what our rotation is going to look like. George Kirby in the bullpen. Matt Boyd is going to be active for this series. Chris Flexen not going to be active.

Again, things change series to series. Those guys all know that. Marco Gonzales is the other one with the pitches he threw the other day would not be active.

Not any crazy surprises maybe other than the injuries that came upon us here of late.

Q. Speaking of Toro, what did you see from him that made you add him to the roster? How happy are you about the season he has had or just the way that he has fought back to get into the lineup?

SCOTT SERVAIS: Abe has had his moments this year. I think overall it wasn't the season that he was hoping for, but the one thing Abe Toro has done for us is he has gotten a lot of big hits late in the games. Home runs, doubles. It seems like late in the game usually fits him best. For whatever reason he gets his swings in.

The addition of him to the roster had a lot to do with Sam Haggerty going out. Sam had a great season for us. Kind of a premiere base runner, base stealer. That's not really Abe Toro's gig, but Abe brings a positional flexibility along with switch hit. That's pretty valuable when you get into the playoff series.

Q. How is the status of Cal's thumb? Will you be able to use him all three as a catcher? I'm sure he wants to, but how much do you have to monitor that throughout the course of a game?

SCOTT SERVAIS: Cal is going to play. Cal might be one of the toughest guys we have in that clubhouse.

I'm biased, but he has catcher mentality. He will grind through it. I feel very comfortable. I think left-handed swinging not an issue at all. Right-handed he will be fine.

Things happen catching-wise. You get your thumb dinged up like that, it can bother you a little bit, but he has caught since he's had the issue. He's worked his way through it. He will be fine for all three games.

Q. Back home in Seattle there are thousands of kids trying to get out of school right now.

SCOTT SERVAIS: That's great, isn't it? (Laughing.)

Q. There's playoff excitement everywhere. J.P. just talked about trying to treat this just like another game. Your message to the players as you get ready for the playoffs?

SCOTT SERVAIS: I think it's really important. I hit it on it a little bit yesterday. There will be momentum swings throughout a game or a series like this, and certainly when you're on the road and the environment we're going to face today, it will get loud in here. It's going to happen.

I think it's really important as an athlete in any sport you're playing is understand, expect the expected. It's going to happen.

When you're in that moment, you have to realize you're in that moment. How do you flip it the other way? You usually flip it the other way by doing the things you've done all year to put yourself in this position. I think when you get in trouble is when you try to flip the momentum and you say, Okay, I'm going to be the guy that hits a home run here, or I'm going to be the guy that strikes out the side here.

Do the little things. Have a good at-bat. Figure out how to get on base. Create a rally and pass the baton to the next guy. If you focus on the little things, sometimes big things happen. It's not to go the other way.

Our players understand that. Again, expect the expected. It's going to happen. That's the beauty of playoff baseball.

You're going to take a shot, and you got to punch back, and knowing that that's what's ahead of us.

Q. You've talked about the heartbeat of Luis Castillo on the hill. What about your catcher, Cal Raleigh? All eyes are going to be on him for everybody on the field. What do you expect from him in that regard?

SCOTT SERVAIS: Cal, there are certain guys that you just have total confidence in, and he's earned my trust. He has earned the trust of our entire coaching staff, especially our pitching coaches.

Cal is really good at staying in the moment, understanding how to work through a lineup, and based on what the pitcher has that day and what's working and what's not working and having the ability to make in-game adjustments.

There are certain players throughout the course of a game that are really hard to talk to, to lock in during the game. Cal is not one of those. You can talk to Cal. Hey, Cal, here's what I'm seeing. What are you seeing? Our pitching coach, Woody, does a great job in-game with him.

He gets it. He is looking forward to this. I think a big advantage for him, you know, he grew up in a household, his dad was a long-time coach. He gets how coaches think. (Laughing.) He's thinking along with us. Ton of confidence in him in leading our pitching staff.

Q. This is a little off the wall, but --

SCOTT SERVAIS: I'm sure it is, Ryan.

Q. It's what I do. Going off what Chris said, but a lot of people were complaining about having to work or kids having school. Can you give a permission slip right now on the video to tell people --

SCOTT SERVAIS: I give everybody the permission slip at 1:00 today all kids should be out of school and everybody working in an office in Seattle, take it to the bar. (Laughing.)

Q. How does your team use its youth or overall lack of playoff experience as an advantage?

SCOTT SERVAIS: Is it an advantage?

Q. You tell me.

SCOTT SERVAIS: It's exciting. I think young players -- we all have to go through firsts at different things in our lives. It's the first girl I kissed. It's the first time I asked somebody to marry me. Different firsts.

I think if you go through it with the right attitude, understanding that there are going to be a little bit of nerves, there's going to be the things that you've never experienced before, but really embrace it.

I am going to have a good time today. I joked earlier, maybe until about the 7th inning we figured out what pitcher is going in the game, but I'm going to enjoy it because I know how hard it is to get here. I think that's the way you have to go about it.

As long as you understand what's coming. There will be some bumps in the road. As far as the energy, the excitement of young players. I'm looking forward for Julio to stand in the box to open this game up. I really am. Couldn't have a better player leading off the game for us.

As I go through these guys making their first playoff appearances. And there's some guys that we have that have been in the league for a while that never played in a playoff game. And seeing how Hanny handles it and what Ty does and guys that have been such a big part of our core going forward. I'm excited for them.

I think you look at the enthusiasm going through it the first time, and you don't know how you're going to handle it. I remember my first time in the playoffs. It should be a lot of fun for them, their families, the people that have helped them get to the point we're at. They should enjoy it.

Q. What's the key in your mind to the approach against a tough pitcher like Alek Manoah?

SCOTT SERVAIS: He's good. There's no question about it. He's been good all year.

We saw him earlier in the season. He pitched very well against us in a very tight game in Seattle. He throws strikes. He has two different fastballs. The changeup is a real weapon for him along with the breaking ball. He's a good competitor.

I think as you work your way through at-bats, you need to have a definite game plan going in. I don't think you can just go up there and say, If it looks good, I'm going to swing at it. You want to stay aggressive, but you have to have a good game plan. Some of that might be predicated off how he pitched to you previously.

I think each player's plan may be a little bit different. Certainly he is going to pitch different to Carlos Santana and Cal Raleigh than to some of our right-handed hitters. You have to try to get him up and get him in the middle of the plate.

We do have a knack of hitting homers. I think homers play in the playoffs. They really play if you have some guys on base ahead of them.

Having good at-bats. That's the biggest thing. Hoping you can get the pitch count up a little bit and get into the bullpen a little bit earlier.

He's really good. Certainly have a ton of respect for him.

Q. There had been some talk yesterday about including Cade Marlowe on this roster. To the extent you're able, can you tell us how the decision not to include him was made?

SCOTT SERVAIS: It's the situation. Cade has never played in the Big Leagues before, but he's here because we believe in him. He's a really good, interesting young player. If there was injury or something like that, we could slide him on to the roster. But I think the initial roster going with Taylor Trammell in that spot. Taylor has been in the Big Leagues before. He's been around our team and been in this environment. That's why we made the decision we did.

Q. I know your focus is on today's game, but we're getting ready to talk to Robbie, and this is a big return for him and making a start for why you guys acquired him and spent that money. Just how big of this opportunity is it for him, and how excited are you to see him return against his former team?

SCOTT SERVAIS: It's a great opportunity for Robbie, but kudos to our ownership group at stepping up at the point when we had an opportunity to add the pitcher, the quality. Not just pitcher but person Robbie Ray is. He's meant a lot to our team this year.

I think you've seen that come -- it really came out probably over the last month, two months more than it did earlier in the year taking on a little bit more of a leadership role with the whole group. Not just with the other starting pitchers.

I'm excited for him. He's been a great addition to our organization. It has been awesome. I love his intensity. I had a meeting with him earlier in spring training and talked about when you sign a player to that length of contract, it ultimately becomes a partnership between the manager and the player. We're working together for a common goal.

That has certainly developed throughout the course of this season. I think it's going to be exciting for him. I know his stuff is going to be really good tomorrow, and I know you'll hear him grunting. (Laughing.)

I'm looking forward to all those things.

Q. It seems like one of the real keys in your series for this ball club will be bullpen sliders. Nearly every one of those guys has a phenomenal slider. It doesn't seem like that's a coincidence that your bullpen has that as a common thread. When you kind of look back, not just this year but in the last couple of years, the bullpen has built to the point it is now. How has that pitch organizationally -- the focus, the emphasis on that. Obviously, there's a lot of work behind the scenes that we don't know about and we don't see. It's been a huge factor all season long, and it seems like it won't be as big of a factor until right now. Can you walk us through just the importance of that for those guys to master and the impact it could have in your eyes on the series?

SCOTT SERVAIS: It's a good question. It's a question that you do have to peel back the layers a little bit and understand where this all came from.

At the end of the day, our philosophy pitching-wise, we've had a very good season pitching and driven by our pitching coaches, is throw your best pitch more often.

It sounds simple, but if that pitch happens to be a change-up or a slider, why wouldn't you throw it more often if they have a harder time hitting it? You have to command it. You have to get it in the strike zone.

Our guys have done a good job with that. They did a very good job of controlling the zone. You talk about the slider and how effective that can be, all the guys that have a slider for us, every one of those sliders is different.

Sewald's is different than Munoz which is different than Castillo which is different than Brash's. Even though you say the same pitch, they're all different; the velocity, the movement, the break, everything that goes into it.

At the end of the day, it's about throwing your best pitch most often. Especially if you have a reliever. You don't have to go through that lineup two or three times. That's been our philosophy. It's worked very effectively because we have talented players that have bought in.

Along the way some of those guys have adjusted and changed their sliders or their breaking balls from our starters. Logan has changed it. George has changed it.

Again, it's a simple philosophy, but you need ultimately to have players buy in, and you have to be honest with them. Hey, this is your best pitch. Can we get you to throw this a little bit more often? They do. They have success with it. Players want to be successful. They want to get paid. That's what they do.

It's worked out well for us.