NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 10, 2022

Freddie Freeman

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Why do you guys think you had so much success against the Padres in the regular season, and how much does that matter for this week?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I'll start with the second one. It matters nothing. Like I've been telling you guys for two weeks, no one cares that we won 111 games starting tomorrow or what the head-to-head matchups were during the season. It's what you can do tomorrow, the next day, and the next day.

So I don't know the specific reason. I think we just played really good baseball from start to finish this year. When you play against your division rival, it's not just the Padres, the Giants, everyone in the division, you have to play a little bit better because you know you can gain ground real fast in those situations.

So I don't know that there's a rhyme or reason for why we played so well, but it needs to continue tomorrow.

Q. Did some group of you guys get together to watch the game last night, and if so, how big was the group?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: We had a team dinner last night actually. It was a good time, but the game was on, yes. I left before it ended, but I heard about it.

Q. Did everybody show up or most everybody?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Everyone was there, yep.

Q. Where was the dinner?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: The Palm. We can give the specifics. (Laughing.) It was a good time.

Q. I guess you won't know until you're on the field tomorrow, but having won a World Series, do you anticipate postseason feeling any different for you?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah. The excitement is already there. It doesn't feel like you've been playing baseball for seven months when you get on that field tomorrow. Nothing hurts. You're not tired. It's just kind of like the first day of spring training. Everyone is excited, ready to roll.

This is what you work for all season long, and to be able to get into that chance, it's what you ask for.

Q. I asked you this the other day, but what is it about the way this lineup is constructed that makes it difficult to handle in October?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, I think it's the way we work pitchers. Even if you throw five shut-out innings against us, you're going to be 100 pitches, usually 105 pitches and you're out, and then you are going to ask four relievers to be on their A-game as well. I think that's a very tall task to do.

Sometimes we've had Cody Bellinger hitting nine. He is a former MVP that can change a game in one swing. So top to bottom, you can do so many different things. You have Trea, who can steal bases. Cody, Mookie. I mean, it could be 1-0 after one pitch.

It's just a dynamic lineup one through nine. It's hard to navigate. Hard for the manager to match up against us the way Doc has put it.

I think it's just a good lineup that can do damage against good pitching.

Q. Piggybacking off of nothing in the regular season really matters now and what you were saying to us a couple of days ago that a hot team can go in there and make a run like you guys did last year in Atlanta. How is there, if any way, to stop that, to kind of quiet that hot team? Is it getting out to a big start offensively? Is it a pitcher shutting down early innings? What do you think you can do to stop a hot team?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I don't think anybody in this room picked the Padres to beat the Mets. They're playing good baseball. They've been playing good baseball to get there.

We know they've got a lot of momentum coming off of that. We've got to go out there and strike first. I don't know, anybody made announcements on Game 1. Has there been?

THE MODERATOR: Julio.

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I didn't know if it was announced or not. (Laughing). Julio needs to go out there and just be Julio. Don't be any different. He had a 2.1 ERA all year. He pitched great. We just have to quiet it down and just play our game because our game is good enough.

Q. I'll ask you a very similar question. What makes teams like the Padres and your Braves last year when they come off a series like that so dangerous?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: No one picks -- like last year, no one picked us to win anything. So really there's no pressure. You just have to go out there and play the game.

I think when you have that mentality, you go out there and you have nothing to lose, and everyone just talks about the other team, so it's kind of easy to go out there and just play your game.

I think that kind of helps, but when you've got a team that you've been playing against for so long and they know how good we are, and we know they're a really good team, so it's just going to be a great series. Good starting pitching on both sides. Good offenses. They're hot, and we've been hot for seven months. (Laughing).

Q. You've been on the other side of big Julio starts before. I'm curious, this year being on the same side, just what's kind of stood out to you about him, if you have learned anything new about him?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I have never been excited to walk into the batter's box against Julio, so I think everyone felt the same way as I've felt this year against him.

I think the way he neutralizes righties with the curveball in the back door, heaters up, they ride a lot more than you think it's going to ride. Then it's just the change-up. Every pitch is competitive.

And I think that's what makes pitchers that are good become great is when every time you go into the box and you have to think about swinging on all those 100 pitches, it is really hard to do. That's what he has done this year.

The least amount of noncompetitive pitches you can throw in a game, that's what makes you become like Jacob deGrom. Jacob deGrom is -- every pitch is competitive. It wears you out, it's mentally draining. And that's what Julio I think has done this year and done so well, that every pitch is meaningful. If it's a ball, it's setting up the next pitch or setting up two pitches from there.

The game plan and the preparation and the competitiveness behind every pitch is I think what set Julio apart.

Q. Since you guys were all in the room together last night, what was the realtime reaction to Buck having Musgrove checked?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: It got a little louder in the room. (Laughing.) Yeah, it was just a good time. We had it on. It was quiet, and everyone was just kind of hanging out having a good time. Good team dinner, but it did get a little louder during that part. (Laughing.)