AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 19, 2022

Yordan Alvarez

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 1 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions Yordan Álvarez.

Q. A couple days ago Reggie Jackson said he would gladly hand his nickname of Mr. October over to you. What do you think about that?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: I think those are some serious words there. I think he might be forgetting a little bit of what he's done in the postseason. I don't really have too many comments about that.

Q. Some people are classifying this as the battle of the big men, Yordan Álvarez versus Aaron Judge. Do you think about that, how there's going to be some power shown in this series?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: No, not really. I really haven't been thinking too much about that. All I know is we're both going to go out there and have some fun. I think there are going to be some really good ball games out there and we'll see what happens.

Q. You're very good against left-handed pitching. I wonder, have you always been a good left-on-left hitter and if not, like how do you think you've evolved against left-handed pitching?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: I have seen that. I've seen those splits and obviously I don't see too many lefties. The sample size isn't really there.

But I really try not to think about that too much. I just try to go out there with the same attack plan as a right-handed pitcher and just make really good contact.

Q. The Yankees might be your best rival now, having playing in the regular season, playoffs before. A lot of people thought this would be the series all season in the LCS. What's it like now that you're finally playing them to have another shot against them and just the way this rivalry has been the last few years?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: I think a lot of people, the caliber of team that the Yankees were, that we know how good of a team they are, and a lot of people had the expectations that they were going to beat whoever they played before they got to us.

Now that we are here, it's just go out there, try to stay healthy, have some fun, and try to win.

Q. This being your fourth playoffs, how comfortable are you now on the, in the postseason stage, and how much have you learned about being comfortable in the postseason since 2019?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: Definitely, I think playing in two World Series has helped in that regard. But the way I like to think about it is this is still the same game. It will be a little bit louder, games will be a little bit more intense, some of the situations towards the end of the game might be a little more intense and, again, also a little more noise.

But I think I've done a really good job just to try to maintain the same plan of attack and stay there.

Q. Astros opening up the series as the favorites, do we see the Astros as the favorites for this series and do we think it's necessary to be able to move on to the World Series?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: Yeah, definitely. I think that we are facing a really good team. This is going to be a really good series. I think the one advantage that we wanted was to start at home and we do have that. So we do feel really good going into it.

Q. Coming here from Cuba, kind of creating your own home here, what's it really meant to you that the fan base has just embraced you the way they have? You, your family, everything about it. You're on T-shirts. This whole thing, this whole experience being embraced by Houston, what does that mean to you?

YORDAN ÁLVAREZ: It means everything to me. I think one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable being here, being in Houston, is because of the fan base. I also do think that's also one of the reasons why the team performs as well as we do is because the fans always give us the support.