NL WILD CARD SERIES: MARLINS VS PHILLIES

October 4, 2023

Skip Schumaker

Citizens Bank Park

Miami Marlins

Postgame Press Conference

Phillies - 7, Marlins - 1

Q. Obviously, tough way for you to go out. What are the emotions like right now? What was the message to the club? Big picture, how do you define how 2023 went?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Most projections had us at probably less than 10 percent for making the playoffs. I think the culture changed. I believe that there's a new standard in that clubhouse now. Now it's up to them to protect that standard, honestly.

I think those guys are now understanding what winning looks like and should look like. It was a really fun year. I grew a lot as a person, as a coach. Met a lot of good people, new people in baseball and just really fell in love with those guys.

The sad part about it is, because it's baseball, you're not going to see all the same people in Spring Training. That's what sucks because I came to the field every day away from my family, but so grateful to be a part of another family. That's outside my real family.

So it's just a sad day. We lost to a really good team, and I don't think there's much to hang your head about because it was -- they gave it everything they had. We just fell short.

Q. Just for the series overall, what do you think was the difference between -- in between you guys and them over the two games?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Wheeler and Nola. Those guys are going to haunt my dreams. Last year they kicked us out in St. Louis, and this year they kicked us out here in Miami. They were -- the common denominator -- and he doesn't get enough credit, at least I don't hear enough -- is J.T. J.T. is good back there, as good as anybody in the Big Leagues, and he is maybe the best in the Big Leagues, honestly.

Him navigating a game, changing the game plans up, the game plan on us a couple times. We've seen both those pictures quite often this year, and it was a different type of repertoire that Nola was throwing, 3-1 change-ups to DLC and just different types of pitches and different counts and kept us off balance, and we just couldn't get anything going.

Q. Skip, you mentioned, come Spring Training, it will look a bit different. How much do you think needs to be done to get you guys over the hump or to take the next step?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I believe in those guys. We won a lot of series against teams that are still in the playoffs. They believe that they're just as good as a lot of teams that just moved on, and so do I. It's tough, these three game series, you just never know. That's why you give it everything you've got. Every team has injuries. Hopefully we can come and have some -- our starters are healthy. That would be awesome the whole year. Every team goes through stuff like that.

I'll take my chances with that roster any day of the week, the amount of work and preparation that they put in and how hard they fought, come from behind wins, one-run wins. They never gave up, and that's all you can ask for.

Q. It might tie into the winning culture that you talked about since day one, but whether it's a free agent or maybe guys that would come and trade, what would be the message to them about why they should want to be a Miami Marlin?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I just think we're about one thing, and it's winning and trying to get you better every day. I don't love the phrase 'it's just who you are'. I always believe that you can get better. I don't care who you are and where you're at in your career. Our staff is going to do whatever we can to get you better and show you what winning looks like.

And I really believe that. Maybe I believe too much in that stuff, but I really do believe in whoever we acquire to get them better. They brought -- Kim brought in high character, winning players. That's who we're going to try to identify to bring in in this off-season, but I feel really good about the core players that we have right now.

Q. Acknowledging that there wasn't a great situation to bring Tanner Scott in, was there any discussion about trying to bring him in in the middle innings when the game is still in the bounce?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Nardi's been really good for us all year long. Especially in leverage innings with runners on base. He's been our guy. Bases loaded, jams, no outs, he gets out of them. He's been excellent. I thought Robbie gave us some really good innings as well, kept it close. Maybe a double play was turned, that type of thing, and the inning looks different, but you give extra outs away. Sometimes Big Leaguers make you pay.

I think you could ask Nardi where to throw. Stott, it's not that spot, and Stott's a really good player. I mean, that lineup is really good. It's really deep. There's no holes in it. When you try to flip out the bottom of the order, you've got Marsh, and it's a really good, deep lineup.

I don't think the story is how many runs -- if Nardi gave up the grand slam or the pitching -- we didn't get anything offensively going. That's just what it is. Nola and Wheeler did really, really well against us, and we just could not get anything going. Nardi, Puk, Robbie, and Scott are our guys. They've been our guys all year long. If we were going to go down, we were going to go down with them, and we went down.

Q. Now with your first season as manager in the books, is there anything you think you as the manager can improve on going into next season? Is there anything specific that you're looking forward to going into next season?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Of course. I can improve on many areas. I've learned a lot this year. I'm not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination. I have really good coaches around me that I got to learn from. I have a growth mindset. I'm always trying to figure out how to get better, how to get our guys better. My off days are spent going to different places and facilities trying to figure out how to get guys better, what am I missing?

There's a lot of things. I could be here all day telling you about situations or how to get different guys better. What am I looking forward to most? I think probably seeing what these guys are going to be doing in their off-season to get better. I think there's just a different standard now in how they're going to prepare. You talk to a lot of these young guys who haven't been in the postseason before, they tell you, all right, now I get it. I understand now. Because you talk about all these details all Spring Training, all throughout during the season, but until you can't hear yourself think out there and you have to rely on your preparation, that's when you understand. And I think that's what they're figuring out now, like, okay, I can take a deep breath. I understand what the postseason looks like. Now I'm going to do everything I can to get back there. Until you taste that, you're comfortable losing. That's the culture we're trying to get rid of. I think that happened.

Q. Can I ask you to take a step back and think about Phillies versus Braves. You played 28 games against those two teams this year. How do you think they match up against each other?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: They're two of the best teams in the Major Leagues we face. Incredibly tough to navigate a lineup, as far as bullpen matchups. There are no holes. They're star power up and down the lineup that are postseason tested.

The Nola-Wheeler combo right there was as good as you're going to find in the Major Leagues, and their back-end bullpen with Alvarado and a playoff tested Kimbrel, and Soto was throwing 102 mile an hour sinkers, whatever it was, they are really tough, and they're coached really, really well.

Obviously the Braves are -- we didn't really know how to pitch them, honestly. I don't think the league did. We were trying everything, and it starts with obviously the top of that middle of the order. There's just -- they make you pay when you make a little bit of a mistake. The run game on both sides are incredible. It's going to come down to bullpen and starting pitching. I think it always does.

That's no different with the Braves and the Phillies. It comes down to starting pitching and bullpen, and it's going to be a really good series because they're both coached so well and they're so talented that I'm looking forward to watching it.

Q. You will watch those games?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Absolutely, yeah. Again, I love learning to see what managers are doing and what did I miss? I put myself in their situations. Again, I'm constantly trying to figure out what would I do? Why would they do that? What am I missing? You're texting your own coaches and other managers.

I don't want to do it from the couch. I'd rather be in the dugout doing it, but yeah, it's a lot of fun for me to watch those games. I have a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter that we'll be talking about it too, and they'll be second guessing what I'm talking about, just like my bench coach was second guessing me all year.

No, it's going to be a lot of fun. I just wish I was doing it in the dugout.

Q. When we tell the story of this season, your group, we have to talk about Luis and how impressive it was from the beginning to the end, playing hurt. So what do you make out of his season, what you learned from him, what impressed you the most out of Arráez?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: There's a couple guys who stepped up when they didn't feel so great, and they still try to do whatever they can to help us win. Sandy went down to the Minor Leagues to try to play with an elbow that was not good. Just in case we got here.

I think, when your best players are doing that, it's showing like posting matters. Arráez is doing the same thing. Won a batting title. If you saw his ankle, the photos of his ankle, you're like, there's no way he's going to play in the postseason. The fact that he played in the postseason was pretty incredible, and it just shows the young guys that it's okay to play a little sore, a little hurt. Push through some stuff.

He was the heartbeat of our lineup. He started the engine. I know it's cliche, but you hear that stuff, that is the one guy that I will say really changed the culture from day one when he walked in our clubhouse of this is what work looks like. This is how you prepare every day. Jump on board.

I'm grateful for that trade because that set -- we talked about setting the standard. He definitely set that standard.