NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 11, 2023

Miguel Rojas

Chase Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Just as one of the leaders on this team and in the clubhouse, can you just take us inside and the mentality, the mindset of how you all are feeling heading into a game knowing you are facing elimination tonight?

MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, definitely the mentality from the group have to shift to -- we have to win one. Our job tonight is come to the ballpark and do everything that we can to punch first.

We have an opportunity to be the visitors now. We're going to hit first and we're going to have an opportunity to score some runs for our pitching. Hopefully we can do that. But at the end of the day, the mentality is to win one game and move on from what happened at home.

Not an ideal situation. You never want to be 0-2 coming into the road, but it is what it is. We have to make sure we do whatever we can to win this one.

Q. Has anybody had to say anything in the team meetings? How you guys handled the last 48 hours collectively as a group?

MIGUEL ROJAS: It's been kind of the same we've been doing all year. This group has been together through ups and downs throughout the whole year. Yesterday, we had a workout late in the day. But at the beginning of the day we started having lunch together.

Jason Heyward has been amazing identifying the spots where we can get together and be players-only meetings or team lunch or whatever. And we had a really good one yesterday.

We spent time together off the field. Like we've been on the field every single day since we clinched. And we had been working out in LA and all that.

But I think our time away from the field was good, too, and it was a pretty good off day yesterday to actually regroup and come back here with a little bit more hunger of winning this game.

Q. When you're facing elimination, is it easy to do too much in a game like this? How tough is it to manage?

MIGUEL ROJAS: I just feel like we need to have some sense of urgency. We all know what we're facing. We can't be cautious or trying to think what we need to do to not get eliminated. We're not going to think about that.

We're going to think about we need to be aggressive and we need to move forward. That's my mentality and that's the mentality that I'm trying to inject to my teammates. We need to be aggressive. We're not going to be thinking of what we need to do to not lose this game. We need to think about winning the game.

So I feel like everybody's on the same page on that end. And just be aggressive and come out and play your game.

Q. How much of the offensive struggles do you think have been as a result of you guys being behind early and maybe pressing? Has that been a factor and how important is it to get the lead earlier?

MIGUEL ROJAS: We all want to have the lead. We all know we carry a pretty good special guys on the top of the lineup that if they get going, we're going to get going. We score I don't know how many runs, almost a thousand runs during the regular season. So we couldn't have done that if they didn't do their part.

Everybody needs to kind of do their part in this lineup. And we all know that we need Mookie, Freddie, Will, J.D. and Muncy on top of the lineup -- 100 RBIs each, we need those. Hopefully they swing the bat like the same way they did during the regular season, and they're going to be a big part for us.

Q. You were in the playoffs in 2020 with the Marlins, but there were no fans. And you were in '14, but with a lesser role. I'm curious what it's been like, your playoff experience with the fans in the stands?

MIGUEL ROJAS: It's definitely been different. 2020, with no fans, it was like, yeah, we were in the postseason trying to win a championship, but I didn't feel what I felt in LA with all the fans right behind us.

And having the opportunity to have 50,000 fans in the stands rallying behind you, wanting to get the same thing you want, which is advancing and going to the next series and winning a World Series, it's a different feeling.

I got a first opportunity in '14, like you say. I got in the game when the game was on the line, and I kind of got some flashes from it. But I don't, like, I mean, as a baseball player you've got to turn the page and continue to go.

These first couple of games at home kind of brought me something back that I was missing for a long time. And I'm glad that I'm part of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and I can be wearing this uniform and experience these moments in the postseason.

Hopefully this is not the last one, and we're going to continue to play hard and trying to win this one today so we can get the series back to LA. That's our main focus right now -- get the series back to LA and we've got to win one.