NL WILD CARD SERIES: PHILLIES VS CARDINALS

October 8, 2022

Kyle Schwarber

Busch Stadium

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame Press Conference

Q. You faced Aaron Nola before this year and he's been your teammate this year, probably knew something about him before this year. What is something that sticks out to you having been his teammate and watching him up close now for an entire season?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I think the biggest thing is the composure. He's not really phased by guys on base, things like that, that he's a guy who kind of keeps the heart rate down and always keeps composure. Even if he does give up a few runs, he's still very composed out there. And he's trying to get those next outs. And obviously I think the stuff is the stuff, right? It's good stuff. And he's one of the top pitchers in the game for a reason, but I think the extra mentality part is what separates him as well.

Q. What's the clubhouse like this afternoon in terms of emotion and momentum after yesterday's rally, because it happened so late, I would imagine maybe it's still fresh?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah. That's kind of the beauty about postseason baseball that we had a pitcher still going on, and then next thing you know, we're scoring late in the game. And the feel in the clubhouse, it was great last night. And then coming in today, it's kind of the same feel as Game 1, that you know what, yeah, do we want to have that momentum rolling into today's game, absolutely. And we're going to try to keep that going, but also, too, knowing that today is a completely new day and that there's a different task that we have to go out there and accomplish tonight. But we still want to make sure that we have that energy and that momentum on our side as well.

Q. Throughout the course of the year, you guys have had some big comebacks, the Angels game comes to mind, the Hader game in Milwaukee, speeding out Quintero late. How much do those experiences help yesterday to be able to draw on and also what do you think it is about this team that's enabled you guys to have some of those moments?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah. The be there, done that factor is huge. To know that we can do things like that where and even earlier in the year when we came back on the Mets in the eighth inning, those are all big rallies and things that we can draw back on previous experience that we can draw back on when we're in situations like that.

And I think that's kind of the biggest thing. I think Topper said we had like what 38 come from behind victories this year. That's a lot of come from behind victories.

And I think the belief is in ourselves that we know what we can do at the plate and we know what we can do as a team when we keep passing on the baton. And yesterday two guys were on. They were dealing. And we were able to kind of get a guy where he started to scuffle. We just kept passing on the baton, and then the big contact factor there, too, with Seggie and Stott, Marshy being able to put the ball in play, and we got some runs in. But to be able to draw back on the experience is also very nice to have as well.

Q. We were asking Paul Goldschmidt earlier about the postseason how pitching has kind of dominated so much. As a hitter knowing you are going to get the best pitchers, do you relish that challenge?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah. I think that's 100 percent what this is about. It's very rare in postseason baseball that you're going to see high scores. Everyone is going to be on another level of being locked in and having their stuff and things like that. So and good teams have good pitching. And that's what you're going to see throughout this whole postseason.

So to be able to go out there and see some of the best pitching in the game and having to grind things out, you know, as a position player side, that's something that you look forward to every single day. We want to go out there, and we want to knock out the starter and try to get into the bullpen. And I think that can also fall back on our side, too, as a defense, knowing that you know what, we got some really good pitchers on our team, and we're going to have to go out there and play really good defense behind them to make sure that we can keep them in there as long as possible.

Q. Someone who's played in a lot of postseason game at a young age, what are your impressions so far of how they've dealt with the pressure?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah. I felt like they've done a really good job. I feel like these last couple weeks that we've been playing have kind of have had the postseason feel just because of where we were at in the standings, and we just needed to keep winning. And that's the name of the game in postseason baseball is just keep finding a way to win.

And I felt like they handled themselves well. There were some things that, you know what, we put in the bank that we had to learn from, and now that we're here, this is what it's about. It's just going out there trying to win, and it doesn't matter. And I think this is a big thing for all of us is that it doesn't matter if, you know what, if we're hitless or something like that because your name can still be called upon. And in that last inning, someone's name could be called upon. I look at a guy like Rhys Hoskins yesterday who was 0 for 5, but the guy saw like 50 pitches, 30 pitches. That's huge. Those are things that -- or those are little things that matter that you see that many pitches, it just helps out that next guy. We always believe in the pass-the-baton method.

And yeah, we want to get the job done when we're at the plate, but we also have the belief that, you know what, if we got that guy at second base, our first goal of mine is get him over because we know the guy can get him in behind us. So that's kind of our mindset right now is it's all about just trying to win a baseball game, being very disciplined at the plate and having fun while we're doing it.

Q. As someone who's been in the postseason a lot and you've gotten in as a division winner and a wild card, I'm just curious what you think of this wild card best of three round as opposed to the one and done previous wild cards.

KYLE SCHWARBER: It's definitely interesting. You know, I think it's good for -- it's good for teams that we can get extra teams in there, and guys are going to be battling throughout the whole year. It's not just that do or die, but, still, it's also a round of urgency, too, because it's two wins and you're onto the next round. So there's a sense of urgency in every single game, which I think is really good.