NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 10, 2022

Max Fried

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. First of all, how are you feeling and the excitement of knowing you're going to start this DS off for your team?

MAX FRIED: I'm excited. This is the time of year that you play for and you grind for 162 games. And it's finally here, and I know that we're excited to get started.

Q. On the days leading up to a start, what's your routine like in terms of studying or getting yourself ready?

MAX FRIED: Just becoming familiar with the opponent and getting my body as recovered and as right as possible to be able to go out there and give everything I have for 100-plus pitches.

Just working out, a lot of treatment stuff, a lot of just stabilization, just stuff that you do to -- cardio, just all that kind of stuff.

Q. When did you start to feel better after the stomach bug?

MAX FRIED: It got me kind of good right afterwards. But I started to bounce back. If we were in a situation where I needed to pitch on that last game of the season, I was going to be able to do that.

Q. You've been part of the club through the postseason run over this past few seasons. What's the process been like, growing from the young prospect you were when it started to the pitcher you are today?

MAX FRIED: I've been very fortunate to be on a lot of really good teams and have some experience in the postseason before. The one thing I've noticed is that at this time of year it doesn't really matter what happened in the regular season, what's happened in the past.

It's all about just going out there and winning baseball games. Stats are really irrelevant; it's if your team comes out on top and you win the game, that's the main objective.

You know that every single team you're playing this time of year is an amazing team and they're really well-rounded, and you've got to bring your A game. So for me it's just going out there and leaving it all on the field and just trying to get the results.

Q. You mentioned familiarizing yourself with your opponent. You know the Phillies really well. Do you consider it an advantage, disadvantage? How do you feel they're playing right now versus when you've seen them in the past?

MAX FRIED: I mean, I threw twice against them towards the end of the year. I've thrown a handful of times against them. But they're one of the teams that I've pitched most frequently against in my whole career.

It's a really really great lineup over there. They're extremely deep. 1 through 9 can beat you. And they're here for a reason.

I don't know if it's an advantage or disadvantage. I just think there's no secrets. Everyone knows what -- I know what they have; they know what I have. And it's just going out there and executing and seeing who comes out on top.

So I'm really excited. I know that they played a really good series in St. Louis. And they're going to be coming in, hungry, ready to go. And it's going to be a fun one.

Q. Knowing that you were sick and Strider has been reading a injury and the bullpen was used at length in the last series, how important was it to get that wild-card bye for you guys?

MAX FRIED: I think obviously no one wants to have extended time off. But I think we used it to our benefit just to gather our strength and kind of get back to getting healthy and making sure we have this next run for hopefully the next couple of weeks a lot better than we kind of ended the season.

We're going to take it as we've got some rest and be able to recoup and know it's going to be a long, hard-fought battles from here on out.

Q. You can swing the bat, but what's it been like this year to not have to worry about that? And especially magnified in the postseason where you have enough to worry about so that's not part of the game anymore?

MAX FRIED: Obviously the hitting part in National League play before this year I was always a big fan of. I've always played positions and stuff growing up. I really like handling the bat.

But having this be my first year of just focusing on pitching with no hitting or anything like that, I've noticed that it's kind of allowed me to get deeper in the games with feeling a little bit less fatigue, standing on the bases, swinging the bat.

Just focusing more on pitching and in between innings, focusing on the hitters instead of worrying about grabbing your bat and getting up to the plate or worrying about when your spot's up in the order or getting the bunt down, trying to bunt 95.

It's been an adjustment, but it's one that I've come to like.

Q. What is it about Dansby that seems to make people almost gravitate toward him?

MAX FRIED: He's as charismatic as they come. And he's genuine. So when you've got a guy that is authentically himself and he can go out there and you know that his one main purpose every single day is to go win a baseball game, and that's one of your leaders, it's easy to kind of look at that and follow suit.

He's completely selfless. He's always team first. He's the guy, if we win and he goes 0-for-4, he's just as happy as if he went 4-for-4. He's the guy, if you go 4-for-4 and we lose he's not as happy as 0-for-4 and winning.

When you've got guys that are your leaders that prioritize that over personal success, it rubs off on everyone else. And we follow that and we definitely gravitate more towards that.

Q. Have you done anything extra, cardio or strength-wise these last few days, just to test yourselves to make sure you're back at the level that you were before the stomach bug?

MAX FRIED: Yeah, definitely been testing myself and trying to get ready. You know that the, coming up the playoffs is always a little bit more, the higher magnitude, the adrenaline run. And drain yourself out a little bit more.

So definitely have been over the last couple of days testing myself and preparing myself for what's to come.

Q. The guys in here before you, Dansby and Travis, like yourself, just seem to be so even keeled, you can't really tell win or lose. How crucial is it in this environment to have guys who are in such prominent positions to set the clubhouse tenor and be so even keeled?

MAX FRIED: I think for me personally it's seeing the guys that I came up with that I kind of looked up to that were more the veterans and that was the way they handled things. You know in this game that anything can happen on any given day. And you obviously want to go out there and win.

But it's really hard to string two, three in a row. If you lose, it's easy for that to snowball into two, three in a row, as far as losing.

So knowing that you're the same, being even-keeled, some kind of intensity level every single day gives you the most clear-headed consistent results.

Q. Did you watch many of the wild card games this weekend?

MAX FRIED: I tried to catch as many as I could.

Q. Is there any kind of starting performance that stood out to you?

MAX FRIED: I mean, the one last night from Joe Musgrove, that was really impressive. Winner-take-all game, to be able to go out there and go seven-plus innings was pretty impressive.

Q. Multiple guys have said when you get on the mound, even before you get on the mound, seems like you're dialed in, ready to do whatever it takes to help your team win. We saw it last year in the World Series where you continued after an apparent ankle injury. What is it like to just have that mindset, and what is the mindset that you have when you step out of the car before the game?

MAX FRIED: I've got one opportunity to make an impact on today's game. And I don't want to have any regrets coming out of it thinking that I could have done more or I should have done more.

For me, it's, I'm going to leave everything out there every single time I take the ball because that's the way that I can impact the game, and I know that my teammates are doing that on a daily basis, especially the guys behind me.

Just making the most of every opportunity that I can get and just giving everything you have every single time you have that opportunity.