NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 9, 2023

Max Muncy

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. You guys have been in this position a few different times over the course of the time you've been here. How important is it, and what's being said inside that clubhouse?

MAX MUNCY: The most important message we could spread is it's over. The other night was just one game. You don't win or lose the series in one game until it's winner take all.

So for us, obviously it was a really bad game and it sucked and it wasn't very fun being out there. But at the same time it doesn't matter how many runs they score; it's only one loss or one win. So for us it's over. It's a 0-0 game today.

Everyone's starting fresh, and that's how it's going to be every game from here on out. You take the date you have in front of you, that's all you can do. You don't worry about what's already happened, you don't worry about what you think is going to happen. All you can worry about is what you have in front of you. For us that's today's game.

We have Zac Gallen on the mound. We'll go out there and try to execute our game plan. And that's all there is to it.

Q. After a game like the other night, is it helpful to have the off-day to regroup? Is it tougher to sit on it an extra 24 hours? And what was yesterday like just getting ready for this one?

MAX MUNCY: I don't know if I have a good answer to that question. But the whole team came out yesterday. We had a good workout. It was an optional thing, and yet everybody was here. That's where everyone's at with that.

We knew it was important after having the five days off to make sure we keep getting out and doing stuff. We had a good workout yesterday. Everybody's attitude was good.

And like I said, the game before it already happened. It's over and done with. You can't dwell on it. You gotta make sure you move forward. We have today's game ahead of us. We have a good opportunity to go out there and just execute what we can execute. And that's what we're focused on.

Q. What allowed you guys to be as good against Gallen this year as the couple times you faced him. And how much does that translate when you're game planning for tonight?

MAX MUNCY: It's the same thing that we try to take against any pitcher. Zac Gallen is one of the best in the game. There's no doubt about it. But if you can stick to your game plan, not let him deviate from your game plan, stick to your approach, stick to what you're trying to do as a whole team, if can you do that.

You have to trust that you have the right guys in the lineup and the right guys out there that good things will happen as long as you don't deviate from what you're trying to do.

That's kind of his job on the other side is to get us out of our game plan, get us out of our approach. And it's kind of who wins that battle, really.

Q. Why do you think these underdog teams like the D-Backs are so dangerous this time of year?

MAX MUNCY: I don't like using "underdog" or "favorite" or any of that when you get to the postseason. There's 30 teams out there, and yet there's only a handful that make it to the postseason. In my mind, once you're in the postseason, every team is as good as any other team.

In terms of on paper, that doesn't matter. You see it every year. It's not necessarily always the best team that wins; it's the team that plays the best that goes out there and performs, the team that gets the hottest. Really that's all that matters.

Doesn't matter if you're an underdog or favorite; you've got to go out there and play the game and make sure you get the big hits when you need them, make the plays when you need them, make the pitches when you need them, and that's all it comes down to.

Q. Merrill Kelly said yesterday he attacked you guys differently than he had in the past. When you're so familiar with the pitcher how different is it the way they attack you, regular season compared to postseason?

MAX MUNCY: It was definitely different. On our side, it's hard to tell if that was on purpose or just the circumstance of the game, of them having six, seven runs already on the board.

That's one of those things where it was hard to tell us for, but we definitely noticed he was attacking us different. His stuff was different. He was throwing three, four miles an hour harder than he had thrown his last three, four times against us.

Everything was sharp. He was hitting all his spots. It was a really impressive outing if you take a step back and look at what he was doing.

For us, you take it for what it was. He pitched good. And they kind of dominated us. But that game's over with, like I've been saying. We get to go out there and focus on tonight.

Q. The top seeds are 1-5 so far. I know you can't change what's happened, but in general would you rather play right away or wait like you guys did and why?

MAX MUNCY: I can't answer that without having done the other one. So for us, this is the second year we've had this format. We've been off both times.

I don't know what it's like on the other side, so I can't really answer that question fairly. I could say that, yeah, we'd rather be playing right away or not. But the reality is if you have the days off, you're one of the top seeds and you have home-field advantage. And really when you think about it that's the most important thing. But I can't give you a fair answer because we haven't done the other side.

Q. I'm curious, you were a young player coming up in the game and played in the postseason. When you look at a guy like Bobby Miller, how do you know that you're ready for a big stage like this?

MAX MUNCY: You just have to trust in what you've been doing all year long. For us, the Dodgers, I've always said it's a little bit different when you get to play at Dodger Stadium in front of 50,000 people every single night.

For us, the atmosphere is always different in the playoffs, but for us you have a full stadium usually when we're playing here. For a lot of people that's one of the biggest adjustments.

You play the regular season you might have just a couple of games here and there where you have a sold-out stadium where we're doing it almost every single night.

For Bobby he realizes it's the same game. Stakes are obviously higher, but he's just got to go out there and do what he's been doing all year -- just execute his pitches and his game plan, not let the moment get too big, which is always easier said than done. But for him, I think he's as ready as he's going to get. I think we're all excited to see what he can do.

Q. Do you remember your feelings in your playoff debut?

MAX MUNCY: Oh, yeah. As many playoff games as I've played in, I still get nervous before every single one of them. But, to me, I think that's a good thing that's telling me that I'm not above the moment. None of us are above the moment.

It's an exciting game, and the postseason is why you play this game. You obviously are here to win a World Series and that's the whole goal. Getting to do it on a yearly basis with the Dodgers is always something that I don't take for granted.

But, yeah, you still get nervous. And I still remember I was a wreck for my first one. No doubt about that.

Q. To go back to Bobby, where have you seen him grow and evolve over the course of his rookie season, just sort of watching him from third base?

MAX MUNCY: I think he's learning who he is. I think that's the biggest thing for young pitchers, regardless of where you are. When you're pitching in the minor leagues compared to the big league it's completely different. Your stuff isn't always going to translate.

I think for him it was learning who he was through the course of the year. And he became very, very good and it was fun to watch.

Watching each game how his stuff changed and how he used stuff differently was a true sign of growth to me. And he's buying into that. He's not trying to be stubborn with, oh, I throw 100 miles an hour; that's all I need to do. He's grown a lot learning he can use that fastball to make it even better.

Q. Going back to what you said about Merrill kind of mixing up his looks against you guys the other night, seems like that's something that comes up a lot the way teams attack you in the postseason the past couple of years. Do you almost anticipate that teams are going to do that now, throw you a different look than what you see in the regular season? And how big of an adjustment is that as you guys prepare for some of these pitching matchups?

MAX MUNCY: You can't assume anything that any team is going to do. We've obviously had a little trouble with that in the past, looking at the Braves, specifically.

You face them in the regular season, they pitch you a certain way. Then they flip the script when they get to the postseason. It's a good thing to do in theory, but at the same time your pitchers go an entire year pitching to a certain plan. That's how they attack.

You would have to assume when you get in the postseason most teams would go to their strengths but that's not always the case. You've got to adjust with the game. And you've got to make sure your game plan can be adjustable with the game. You can't be set in stone, otherwise it's not going to be a good outcome.

Q. Back to the playoff format, just from your point of view, when you have three teams last year, three out of the four 100-win teams all eliminated earlier. This year 99 team Tampa is gone. The other teams 100 teams have all been struggling. Do you feel that it's a disincentive at this point to play that well during the regular season and wind up in this predicament in the playoffs?

MAX MUNCY: No, I don't. That goes back to what I was saying earlier, that the best team on paper doesn't win in this game. Throughout the course of a year, that might be the case. But in the playoffs, it's the team that plays the best and the team that gets the hottest and the team that executes their game plan the best. That's one of the wonderful things about the postseason.

I think back to 2018, for us, we were clearly not the best team in that playoff, yet we made it to the World Series because we executed what we needed to do. And every year that's what you see. The teams that are winning are the teams that they get hot. They have guys get big hits in the right moments, and it's not always the best players that are getting those hits. That's the beauty of the postseason. It's also the beauty of this game in general.

We have Freddie and Mookie obviously, but it might come down to someone else. You might look at a David Peralta or an Austin Barnes to get a huge hit in a big moment and that's going to change the game. To me, I don't think it's a disincentive, I think you've just got to get hot at the right time, and that's really all the postseason is all about.

Q. Really what you're saying is every team can beat any other team even during the regular season; so the gap between an 84-win team and a 100-win team is not that big?

MAX MUNCY: This is Major League Baseball. These are the best players in the world. You don't play Major League Baseball because you're a bad player. That's just not how it works.

I know teams see a team like the Oakland Athletics say that's a bunch of bad players. That's not true. They're still some of the best players in the world. And so on any given night any one of those players can be the best player in baseball for that night. And that's what it comes down to.