NL WILD CARD SERIES: PADRES VS METS

October 7, 2022

Jacob deGrom

Citi Field

New York Mets

Postgame Press Conference

San Diego - 7, New York - 1

Q. Jake, you've obviously pitched in an elimination game before back in 2015. Just looking back on that experience, what does it take to be successful in a do or die moment like that?

JACOB DeGROM: The one in 2015, I didn't have my best stuff. So go out there and you leave it all out on the field. You go out there and compete, you try to execute to the best of your ability and try to keep your team in a position to win.

Q. Where do you feel like you're at physically right now? I know you've been dealing with that blister. Just how close to 100 percent is it right now?

JACOB DeGROM: Finger's good. I feel really good. Was able to get off the mound twice this week and felt great.

I look back at that Atlanta start, and I made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on. Other than that, I feel like I threw the ball pretty well.

The goal is to eliminate mistakes in big situations and try to stick to your game plan.

Q. Jake, if you get the chance now to extend this team's season -- and you've been on a lot of Mets teams now in your career. What's special or unique about this particular year and team? What would it mean to you to keep it going?

JACOB DeGROM: It would mean a lot. I missed half of the year, and these guys did a great job. The other starters did a great job holding it down, like Buck said, while me and Max missed some time. I wanted to come here and contribute as much as I could.

Definitely, it's a huge goal of mine to keep this thing going and pass it along to Bassitt.

Q. Can you just take us through what you had to do to heal the blister over the past week or two, and how close to 100 percent is it right now?

JACOB DeGROM: Like I said, my finger feels fine. I felt like I could have kept going in Atlanta, but it was just like do we want to go too far where I've got to miss one or two with the plan of possibly pitching Wednesday?

So the extra days, like I said, I threw off the mound twice this week without any issues.

Q. Are you still treating it in any way?

JACOB DeGROM: No. The dead skin's all peeled away, and it feels fine.

Q. How much over the last seven years have you thought about your next postseason start and when it eventually would come?

JACOB DeGROM: We're in a Wild Card game in 2016, and I had had a surgery at that point. So your first full year in the Big Leagues you make it to the World Series, you got a taste of what that's like, and the goal is to get there every year.

This will be my first time in seven years pitching in the postseason and first time at CitiField, so I'm excited. Like I said, you go out there and execute to the best of your ability and leave it all out on the field.

Q. I was going to ask you, you've never made a postseason start here. What might that be like for you?

JACOB DeGROM: I'm excited. I've said it before, I love pitching here. This is a great atmosphere to play in. Fans have been great to me. I'm excited to go out there and see what I can do.

Q. The strategy of waiting for the result of tonight's game to decide whether you would start or when you would start, do you think that was a good idea?

JACOB DeGROM: Yeah, like I said, the way it worked out, I was able to throw off the mound -- when did I throw? Yesterday and then two days before that. So it kind of stayed on how I would have pitched anyway.

So I was able to get up there and throw, and like I said, the finger felt fine. So I think it all worked out. Like I said, I feel good. So I'm ready to go.

Q. And as the game started to kind of get away from you guys, was there anything you could do, either mentally or physically, to start preparing, figuring this was probably going to be you tomorrow?

JACOB DeGROM: Yeah, the main preparation's going to be tomorrow when I get here, going over scouting reports, and throughout that game, you're watching that game and seeing what they're hitting and what they're not. You come up with little things here and there, whether it was tonight or whether it was Sunday that I was going to throw.

I was kind of paying attention and planning the whole way just in case I had to throw.

Q. From the outside looking in, if you're not an elite athlete, the kind of pressure you would encounter tomorrow night would be -- would seem hard to manage. How do you channel that pressure into positive energy and results, and how difficult is it to do that?

JACOB DeGROM: That's what we love doing, competing, and going out there in big situations. You're going out there, and like I said, you try to leave it all out on the field. You look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and know you gave 100 percent. That's all you can do.

But I've been in an elimination game before and was able to battle through that one. Like I said, got to go out there and just try to execute.