NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 13, 2022

Blake Snell

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. We've talked a lot about returning back to San Diego, bringing baseball back here. How exciting is it for you, and what are you anticipating with the energy tomorrow?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I expect it to be pretty insane, which I'm really excited about. I really wanted to see what postseason baseball would be here in San Diego and at Petco.

I know when we beat New York, I saw the fans were going crazy, so I'm really excited to see what they've got, see what they bring, and hopefully we get a couple wins and can see them go even crazier. Definitely really excited about it.

Q. A lot of players try to block the crowd out and stay focused. Is that your MO? Are you a guy that can enjoy and take something from it?

BLAKE SNELL: Usually after my start, I'll look and see, and then when I walk out, when I'm done pitching, I'll usually look at the stadium and see what we've got. But outside of that, I kind of just black out, pitch, don't really focus on it. Yeah, just try to dominate. That's the plan for tomorrow.

Q. You've been doing a lot of dominating lately. The last outing you said you didn't have the command that you quite wanted, but you spent a lot of time looking at video and reviewing things. What were you able to see out of the last outing?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, just my release point, just syncing my body. That's all I really focused on this whole week. I like where it's at, but the test is tomorrow.

So we'll see where it's at. I'm confident. I'm excited about it. Yeah, just can't wait; ready for tomorrow.

Q. I've got three questions for you if that's okay. What do you remember about your last playoff postseason outings against the Dodgers?

BLAKE SNELL: I knew that question was coming. That was inevitable. Yeah, it was one of my best starts. Yeah, I'll keep it at that.

Q. We saw last night, but for a player on the field at the time, what is the intensity like in these postseason games?

BLAKE SNELL: I feel like every game is different. You'll start, sometimes you'll be nervous, sometimes you'll be scared, sometimes -- because your mind creates so many different things. Yeah, every game is different. Every game you're battling something in your head about what this game is.

But I think once you're honest about what you're battling and you start to attack, that's usually when you find something pretty special in that outing.

Yeah, but they're all different, and you're battling something different every start mentally. Yeah, you've just got to kill the doubt in your head and just focus on attacking, and usually those games are pretty good.

Q. Usually the pitcher gets to pick the uniform. Are we going to see you and the city connect tomorrow?

BLAKE SNELL: I don't pick the uniform, and I got no clue what we're wearing tomorrow, nor do I care.

Q. How would you describe what Manny Machado means in this clubhouse?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, it's weird seeing Manny with -- like postseason Manny, he's yelling all day long, he's locked into every game. Yesterday was telling Nola what to do when he was up to bat. I thought that was hilarious. But Manny, he's our leader. He's the guy that everyone looks at. With that said, I feel like he means a lot.

I'm excited that he's on our team, and I like seeing him in the postseason because he's a different animal in the postseason.

Q. I know you said you knew the question was coming about the last start against the Dodgers. Do you purposely just try not to think about that?

BLAKE SNELL: Two years ago, man. I've got to flip that page, read a different book, learn, get better.

I watch it, but it's a different team. They've got Freddie Freeman, they've got Trea. It's just a whole different team two years ago. It's a different team. They're a lot better, I think. They've gotten pieces that have made them a lot stronger hitting-wise.

Yeah, I can't wait. I'm excited for the matchup. It's something that I'm really looking forward to. I really like facing these guys because I know how good they are.

Q. We talk a lot about comfort with you. How much more comfortable do you feel in the organization and city this year, and does it make it sweeter to be going out there at Petco Park in your second year here?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I like pitching at home. Pitching at home is always a great time, especially even when you try not to feel the energy, you still feel it, and it makes you want to be better. But definitely being year two, I think everyone gets more comfortable.

Usually the first time you're at a place, you're learning so many things and you're thinking about so much stuff that you're not able to focus on the things that you should be focusing on that should come really easy to focus on, but it's hard because your mind wanders.

This is my second year here. I feel comfortable. I know everybody. I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm just trying to prove to myself with how good I am.

It's comforting where I can just be in my own space and just focus on my craft.

Q. You mentioned the other day just about how you've grown in terms of handling the highs and lows and being kind of more steady throughout, not overreacting if it's good or if it's bad. How do you feel like that went for you just in the last week after the New York start, and how has that process been as you gear up for this one?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, it's been good. I feel great. I feel like I'm in the right spot that I need to be in for this start, and I'm excited.

I think good start, bad start, I really do believe the best thing about it is that I have five days to get better, five days to learn from those mistakes and really see how much better I got and did the stuff that I do in between really work to set me up for success.

Yeah, I feel like I'm in a great spot. I felt that way even with the result not being what I wanted. Moving forward, I'm excited, and I can't wait to see how much better I got within these last five days.

Q. One of the things I remember you saying often last year is you want to be great, opportunities to be great. That seemed to be one of your refrains. Is it even more so at a time and situation like this?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, there's no better time to be great than right now. Yeah, I would say so.

Q. It was two years ago, but you have pitched playoff games here. Can you just speak to the strangeness of 2020 pitching here?

BLAKE SNELL: 2020 was actually really fun pitching here. We played Yankees, Astros, which are two dominant teams. We stayed down the road like 30 minutes in a hotel. But playing here, we were in the home clubhouse. Even though there was no fans, like the energy -- I still remember that. I still remember how much fun it was.

Even though I was on the Rays, I just remember how comfortable I was being here in that clubhouse and pitching here. This has always been one of my favorite ballparks to play in, so I cherish it a lot more being that now we'll have fans and it's San Diego fans and it's in San Diego. I like that a lot more.

But definitely excited just to see the energy and all cheering for us. I can't wait to feel that.

Q. You've pitched in solid crowds here before. The Petco fans have not seen a playoff game won here. What do you think that angst is going to be like tomorrow?

BLAKE SNELL: From all the hype I keep hearing and my phone doesn't stop blowing up, I think it would be pretty crazy. Just the people that I know here, like everyone has asked me for a ticket that I know (laughter), like just friends, people I talk to. So I stop replying. Sorry.

So I know everyone wants to be here. I know they all feel the energy and how good this team is. Yeah, so I think -- well, I know it's going to be crazy tomorrow, but I can't wait.

Q. We see you on your stage, the mound; that's where you perform. Give us an idea in the hours leading up to that, what's your routine? How do you get your head in the place that you want it to be?

BLAKE SNELL: I mean, it's different for everyone. Different for me even game to game.

I just trust how I feel, and that kind of tells me how I want the day to go, with my routine, with how I warm up, how I prepare for the lineup I'm about to face. It all changes because I just trust that I need to focus on how I feel; and with how I feel, it's how I go about the day.

That puts me in the most comfortable state of mind to get ready to go be great.

It's always different. It's always similar in its way, but I kind of just listen to what I'm telling myself and just kind of follow that routine of getting ready.

There's a lot to it. Don't feel like talking about it because it's a lot, but for my head space, yeah.

Q. Just to follow up, if you're an inning or two in and you don't feel the way you want to feel, what do you do to get yourself to that place?

BLAKE SNELL: Well, I think you talk to yourself about what's going on, what you're doing right, focus on that, focus on what you're doing wrong and how you're going to change it.

But I think when you're in battle, there's not that much time. You have to throw a pitch in 30 seconds. You can step off, think a little longer, breathe, focus.

But I think you just -- whatever feels right and whatever is -- sometimes it feels wrong and you throw strikes; it's weird.

But you just trust whatever is working, you go to that and you just stick to it and you just stay doing that until you find what normal is, and normal can be different release points, it can be you're not timed up, but when you land in a certain way, that's when you throw it where you want.

It all depends. There's so many -- I've thrown in so many games in my career. I've felt so many different things. You just kind of do what works. Sometimes it could be terrible, but it works, and it gets you through the innings, and that's what you have to do.

Q. Just your first year with Ruben and what that's been like and what he's brought to the table for you?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, it's been good. It's allowed me to lean on somebody and learn from that I really do trust. I just like how open and honest he is, and he listens to us, too, on what we're talking about.

I think the biggest thing of being a pitching coach is understanding that player, he's thrown every pitch. He's seen every pitch. He's felt everything he's doing. So he's pretty aware of how he feels and what's right, what's wrong.

He knows that, and then he toes the line with it with how he approaches you. If he thinks something needs to be changed, he kind of voices it but kind of makes you figure it out. And then you're like, Oh, I should probably do this. And he's like, Yeah, it's kind of what I was saying, but happy you figured it out.

He's really smart in that way. Some guys are stubborn, like myself, and I've been pitching and learning, and I do all the work, and you want to be right on everything you do, but that's just not how it works.

And having him being able to be kind of that voice of reason has been helpful for me a lot this year.

Q. Blake, you've talked a lot about the mental approach here so far. What makes preparing for the Dodgers -- because I know you study up pretty well. What makes preparing for the Dodgers and that lineup so difficult?

BLAKE SNELL: I think they're just so talented, and they understand the strike zone. It's like a whole team. They usually have pretty solid game plans as a team on what they're doing. They let their top three or four hitters kind of do what they do, and the bottom, they want to milk pitches. They want to get your pitch count up and get you out.

Their top guys, if they get going, that's when they get dangerous and they start getting louder. That's kind of what gets them going. Or if you let the bottom of the lineup flip to the top and you start making mistakes, they start hitting them.

But if you stay in control and you focus on the things you need to focus on to make sure that you're executing your pitches, then you're just as scary as they are.

I think it's good on their end because that's what makes them so good, but understanding what makes them good can also make you a lot better, too.

Q. Tomorrow will be your 11th postseason game. Have you had a chance to sit back and reflect how special it is to have so much postseason experience at such a young age?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah. It's something that I really look forward to. I know that. When I got traded, I knew I was going to be on a team that goes to the postseason a lot, which is something I'm very thankful for.

Yeah, I haven't really been able to think about how many postseason starts I've had. I just know that it's something that I always crave, and it's what makes the season and the offseason so worth it, is getting to this moment, because you play in these games and you never feel this excited about a baseball game. It's been six days, and it's all I think about. Like it's all I want to do. It's what makes everything so worth it.

I think that's what makes it so much fun. Even with failure in the postseason, that doesn't scare me, because I know that could be my biggest lesson to make me that much better for the following year. With success, I know that I can learn something from that on what I did, and maybe that helps me string together another like four or five months of excellence for the following year.

These games for me, I think it helps set me up for next year more than anything, but I think it kind of tells me something about myself that I didn't know and I wasn't aware of that can help me be that much better for the following year.

Q. What have you learned the most over the years? Is there something you take away from your rookie year until now?

BLAKE SNELL: I think the number one thing I've learned most of everything is people are going to say a lot of stuff, and their opinions don't matter unless it's someone that matters to you.

Q. You were just talking about dealing with success and troubles and things like that, and you've talked about remaining steady. Is there a conversation, a stretch of your career, a moment in your career that's really led to that realization, that development for you on the mental side of the game?

BLAKE SNELL: I would say Kyle Snyder is probably the biggest influence on my career. I think without a doubt, without him, I wouldn't be the pitcher I am today. I fully believe it.

I have worked with him for 10 years. I came in as like a young kid that knew I wanted to be a Big Leaguer but didn't really know how. Even like the Rays organization, they kind of -- like every pitch I had when I got to the Minor Leagues with them, every pitch changed. Not one pitch I brought from high school that carried into the Big Leagues. Every grip changed, every pitch changed, sequencing, how I -- everything was -- the Rays made me the guy I am, and now I'm getting better and better just by learning the mental side of myself, the mental side of the game.

But overall I'd say the Rays' organization kind of made me who I am as well as Kyle Snyder was at the forefront of that. But there's a lot of pitching coaches that help me, and even those skills coaches that help me, strength coaches. There's a lot. I'm thankful to a lot of people that cared about my career that much.

Q. From Kyle, Blake, to now with Ruben, the trade happens, you had a couple different pitching coaches last year. How difficult is it when not only are you traded but you end up with I think four pitching coaches in three years since then, sorting through everything, getting from one end to the other? As you're going through, is it confusing? Is it difficult?

BLAKE SNELL: No, it's just always going to be tough. When you spend 10 years with a pitching coach, you learn -- you've found trust in him, and when you trust him, you have all that time with him so it's easy to trust him and keep moving forward with him.

And then when you get these new pitching coaches, it takes time to trust somebody. So right off the bat I'm not just going to listen to this guy that I don't know anything about. I'm going to talk to him, I'm going to challenge him, I'm going to frustrate him, I'm going to make sure that this guy is something -- like he knows what he's talking about.

That takes time. Do I trust Ruben right now? Yeah, but we're still growing our relationship. We still have a lot to learn from each other, and I think there's so much ahead of both of us to make both of us that much better at our jobs.

I do trust Ruben. I listen to him, and I lean on him. But I still think we have so much room to grow.

Q. Blake, the night before your start in Arizona last month, your manager got pretty mad with the team.

BLAKE SNELL: What a beautiful thing.

Q. Knowing that you were the next-day starter, you were going to have to set the tone Bob was talking about. What was it like for you, adding an extra layer of motivation?

BLAKE SNELL: Bob is a smart man. That's all I know. That's a smart man.

I don't know. I mean, we had that talk, and a lot of guys just kind of -- including myself just kind of turned the corner there.

Bob knows what he's doing. He's been around for a long time. I think that really helped us, and it honestly brought us closer together as a team, I think, personally.

I think these games are most important right now because we're starting to come together as a team. You can see it by the way we're playing. We're playing team ball. Our defense is unreal. Our hitters are all being patient. When they're aggressive, they're getting on base, they're getting hits.

We're all pulling together right now, which is very exciting because I know what I can do for the next couple of years moving forward.

I think that when he voiced his frustration with us, I think it really turned us into a way better team and a team that was pulling together.