NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 12, 2023

Bryson Stott

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 4 Press Conference

Q. You've been friends with Bryce a long time. With the way he's playing, is there any sensation among the team that you would like to get a championship for him the way he's been playing?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah. I mean he's I think one of the best, if not the best, hitters in the league, and just the way he kind of shows up every day and wants to win and wants every guy in the clubhouse to succeed is pretty awesome.

And I mean, I think if you asked him that question, he would say don't win it for me, win it for the city of Philadelphia. So I mean, it's a team thing. It's a city thing, and I think he'd tell you the same thing.

Q. Hey, what's kind of the vibe in the locker room right now? What's the confidence level that you guys can close it out tonight and not take it back to Atlanta?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah, it's good. Everyone is loose and doing the same thing that we did in May, just hanging out with each other, shooting the basketball around, playing dominos, just doing what we've done all season. And we're excited to get out there tonight.

Q. Bryson, along those lines, anytime you guys have had a chance to close out a team the last two years, you've done it. You haven't let it get to a do-or-die game. What makes this team so good at closing a team out when you've got them on the ropes?

BRYSON STOTT: I think it's just the kind of confidence in each other. I mean we have all the confidence in the world, no matter who's on the mound. And they're going to keep us in it. And it's our job as an offense to put up those runs and give them that support.

And once we get those runs on the board, we try to score as many as we can to not leave a doubt and keep the at-bats and keep the good swings and try to put up as many runs as we can.

Q. Bryson, what did you take from last year's postseason run that maybe you put into play this year in this postseason to make you a better player?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah, just kind of the experience of it all. My first year in the Big Leagues, went to the World Series, and I think that's a lot you could take experience wise, and knowing what it kind of takes to play this late in the year and how your body reacts to it and what you need to do to make sure you're good to go, make sure you feel -- your body feels as good as it did in April and May.

And there's certain things you need to do to be able to keep that stamina going. And I think the biggest thing is that experience of playing in front of these crowds, playing on the road, knowing that one run could win you the game.

It's the playoffs. And one run might do it. 10 runs might do it. It's just you don't know really what's going to happen in the playoffs. Like I said, it could be a 10-9 game or a 2-0 game. It's just figuring out how to win the 2-0 game and also win the slugfest.

Q. Ever since Rob Thomson became the manager of this team, it seems like even through the most difficult losing streaks or whatever, it seems that even after a tough loss, he seems to bring you guys together. What difference has he made in his time as manager in terms of just guiding you guys through the peaks and valleys?

BRYSON STOTT: I mean it's Topper, and he's the same whether we win 20 games in a row, whether we are losing five in a row.

I think it's just the calmness and the confidence that he kind of puts out there himself. Never really flinches at anything. He's as calm as they come. And I think anytime you look to the end of the bench and see your manager not even blinking at something that went wrong or sometimes even something that goes right. I think it is just the way he is calm in every situation is big, and I think it helps the team.

Q. Bryson, I have two questions. The first is on Spencer Strider, obviously he's one of the best in the game and you guys are really familiar with him. What makes him such a challenge and what's the right approach on him?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah. Like you said, he's one of the best in the game. I think he had almost 300 strikeouts. And he knows what to do when you are in a two-strike count.

He's a human being, and he'll make a mistake. And you really gotta capitalize on that mistake because you don't know how many you're going to get in a game and an at-bat.

I think just making sure you're not trying to do too much off him, and I think that's where we've kind of had a little bit of success in the past off him is not trying to take that huge swing. His fastball plays really good. It plays really good up. And like you said, he's one of the best in the game, and it's a grind every time against him.

Q. Secondly I see you guys rocking the powder blues today on a Thursday. What do you guys like about that look, a little old school?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah, it's old school. I think it's kind of tribute to the teams before us. And I mean I see on social media all the time, everyone loves the blue jersey as well.

So I mean last year, we weren't going to wear them, but we were playing on a Thursday. And everybody was kind of like, we're playing on a Thursday. We wore them all Thursdays. So why are we going to stop now. So, yeah, it's a good look.

Q. Did you guys watch how the Arizona-Dodgers game ended and what are your thoughts just kind of on these wildcard teams having more success in the postseason right now? Is there something with the way it's formatted right now that you keep going and maybe it works in your favor to have the long layoff?

BRYSON STOTT: I mean I personally didn't watch the ending of it. I saw the final score, but I didn't watch it. But I mean the Diamondbacks are a really good team, and so are the Dodgers. Like I said earlier, it's the postseason, and kind of anything happens at any time.

It's baseball, too. It just weird things happen. And I mean the NBA, the Miami Heat were a wildcard team and they went to the finals. So it's sports and anything happens. Just keep playing good baseball and go from there.

Q. You stole 31 bases this year. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of the running game and how have you grown?

BRYSON STOTT: Yeah. Anytime you could turn a single into a double is good. It gives our guys behind us a chance to drive us in. It's a lot easier to score from second rather than hoping someone hits a ball down the line or hits one in the gap. A single will score you from second.

I mean I think as a team, we did pretty good in the stolen base department and picked the right times to run. And like I said, gave the guys behind whoever was stealing a better chance to drive us in.