NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 6, 2023

Merrill Kelly

Dodger Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. What does it mean to you to get the start here in Game 1 of a Division Series?

MERRILL KELLY: Pretty special. Pretty excited. Obviously my journey is a little bit different than everybody else to get to this point, but I couldn't be more happy, more, just honored and excited for tomorrow.

Q. Do you think the WBC experience, pitching in a big atmosphere there, can help you in a situation like this?

MERRILL KELLY: I definitely think it can. We won the KBO in 2018. Obviously the stadiums are a little bit smaller there than they are here just, but the playoff experience and the loud atmosphere definitely has given me more experience going into these games.

I think Milwaukee was a good entrance for us for the playoffs. The atmosphere was loud. But I think obviously Dodger Stadium will be a step up from what Milwaukee was, but it was a good entry point to get our feet wet. I think we're ready and I'm ready. And, like I said, I'm excited.

Q. You had a little bit of extra time off here. How is the rest doing for you? And how has it impacted your preparation for the start?

MERRILL KELLY: At this point any days off are good. Everybody has a little something they're nursing or battling with, just end-of-the-season grind. But the time off has been good. Get settled into wherever we're going rather than getting here and hitting the ground running.

My family is with me, so it's nice for them to get here, get settled and figure out where we're going to eat and stuff like that. Jumped down to Santa Monica this morning just to get out of the hotel and get away from everything that's going on.

I love having them here. The body feels good, but obviously I'm not hating the extra couple days.

Q. You threw well against the Dodgers I think a couple times ago. What do you make of your career issues with what makes them such a tough match for you? Because you've thrown well against lots of other good lineups across the league.

MERRILL KELLY: It's a bit of a mystery, a bit of a puzzle for me to solve, which going into the playoff game against them I'm looking forward to trying to solve in this game. It would be nice to get my first Dodger win in five years in the playoffs.

In my mind I'm well overdue for one. I think they just prepare really well. They do a lot of things that other teams don't. Whatever analytics or preparation department that they have over there, I think they do a really good job of game planning and I think they do a good job as a lineup, 1 through 9, sticking to that game plan.

If they go into a game with a certain plan, I think they're ultra committed to it. And even if the first at-bat doesn't go the way they think it was supposed to, they don't really drift from that approach.

For whatever reason there are certain players and certain teams throughout your career and your life in baseball that you kind of run into that just seem to have your number. Unfortunately, throughout my career, this team seems to be that team for me.

But I'm as confident as ever. I think if I start thinking about my previous games and how they've gone and how bad my numbers are against these guys, I think I lose before I even step on the mound. I've said that before.

I have ultimate confidence every time I play the Dodgers even though if it doesn't work out the way I think it is going to, or the way I would hope it does.

So tomorrow's no different. I'm going into that game expecting to throw nine innings, no runs. That's how I go into every game, not necessarily against the Dodgers but some of the other teams you've touched on.

And we are diving into some different stuff and some different numbers and some different video to kind of figure out the different pieces of that puzzle. But I'm confident in my guys. I'm confident in myself going into tomorrow that we can execute a game plan and come out with a win.

Q. Professional or amateur, do you remember the first really important game you pitched in front of a hostile crowd?

MERRILL KELLY: I mean the state championship in high school probably comes to mind as the very, very first one. But after that, it would probably be Omaha in the College World Series or the Super Regional game to get to the College World Series.

We played Arkansas, faced off against Drew Smyly. Ended up winning that game with a home run in the top of the tenth, I believe. From there, after Omaha, it would be the KBO championship.

Q. Just kind of looking over your regular season, whether it's incorporating the slider -- how do you feel you've evolved the most as a pitcher going into this year?

MERRILL KELLY: I think the confidence has just grown. Obviously the more you do something the better you'll get at it, especially if you put the time in to really try to get better at it. I think the fact that I've been in this league for five years now and I've seen pretty much every hitter there is to face.

I think with that and seeing, maybe other than this team, being able to see that I can get pretty much anybody there is out, the Acuñas of the world, really anybody else, I think that's kind of where you've seen the transition go.

Coming over, even if I was a rookie at 30, I felt I was 20. I would look at guys in the league, I'd look at guys in the league that I had seen on TV growing up -- the Kershaws of the world and Pujolses and guys like that -- and I think at that time I was a little star struck by it.

I had to get over the fact that I really was a Big Leaguer and I did belong here and I could get guys out with the stuff I had. And then once you start seeing success and once you start seeing results, I think that confidence just builds.

And it went from maybe picking a little bit and trying to be too fine because I was scared of Albert Pujols hitting a home run or Mike Trout or whoever it was, and once you see the pitches executed and get them out -- and not only the pitches executed but the pitches that aren't necessarily executed and they still get out -- that's when you see the confidence grow.

And as I've matured and gotten older that's a big part of why I've had the success the last couple of years that I have.

Q. You mentioned not thinking too much about your previous history against the Dodgers. How do you avoid having something like that weigh on you ahead of a game like this?

MERRILL KELLY: Maybe just me personally. My memory is not very good to begin with and I try to apply that just the same in baseball.

We talk about having a short memory in this game moving on from each and every game. And myself, I don't really think too much about the stuff I can't control. And I know that the game -- in my mind, I know obviously how those games have gone.

But like I said, I can't sit here and dwell on them. The more I sit on them and the more I think about how they haven't gone my way, I'm behind the 8-ball before the game starts.

My only approach is to move forward and approach tomorrow's game just like any other game and prepare the way that I have and go out there and just kind of -- it sounds cliché -- but give it my best shot, whatever you want to call it and just let the chips fall where they may.

Q. I feel like one thing that a lot of people are looking at is the fact that you and Zac get to start potentially four of these five games. Have you guys talked about that? How do you feel about the responsibility and what that could mean and how seemingly it's a point in your guys' favor?

MERRILL KELLY: To answer the first question, no, we haven't talked about that. We had a little bit of a moment after we clinched looked at each other and we both recognized that we're big pieces of this team, we're big wheels in the cog, but after that, we're kind of the same in that way. We don't really harp on too much. We kind of just take things as they go and kind of move kind of as life comes.

So we haven't really sat down and thought about it. We haven't talked about it, but I think we both recognize that we have a pretty good chance if one of us are on the mound at any given game.

Q. You were part of a team that had to come back from a pretty rough season couple years ago. At what point did you personally start to truly believe that this team had an opportunity to get into the playoffs and do some damage?

MERRILL KELLY: I would say the second half of last year. First half of last year was still kind of up and down. But once the second half hit and some of the younger guys got called up and started contributing -- Perdomo comes to mind, even though he was there all year, but he kind of picked it up in the second half. Obviously Corbin Carroll speaks for himself. Jake McCarthy, Alek Thomas and the infusion of the young guys, the young energy on our team, really showed me the light the second half of last year.

We started playing a lot better brand of baseball than we had the previous couple years. So I would say mainly the second half on from last year, and I think that momentum kind of carried us into this year.