AL WILD CARD SERIES: TIGERS VS ASTROS

October 1, 2024

Jake Rogers

Minute Maid Park

Detroit Tigers

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Jake, how you doing? This is right where you thought you were going to be, like, in 2017, right, playing in the Wild Card game here? Only not for the Tigers.

JAKE ROGERS: Yeah, crazy.

Q. How can you describe your nerves, your adrenaline? Like how are you right now inside, anticipating this?

JAKE ROGERS: Oh, I'm excited. I think that's kind of the best way to put it. Excited. Obviously, this is what everybody works for, to get to the postseason. This is my first little taste.

So I'm really excited. Yeah, I'm nervous. But nervous Game 1 every year. I've been nervous every game since I was probably 13. I always joke with Juan Davis, our bullpen coach. We warm up in the bullpen before games, catcher and the starter. He says, Are you nervous? He always asks, Are you nervous? I say, Yeah. He says, Okay, good.

That's normal. That's a normal thing. I think overall excited to get this going.

Q. Jake, A.J. talked about the fact that, once the season's over, he felt like the adrenaline would really kick in. The regular season was over. You guys get on the plane, and you kind of feel the playoff atmosphere already. How would you describe that, especially for a team that's full of guys that haven't really experienced it?

JAKE ROGERS: Oh, man. Yeah, I think we're all just ready to go. Obviously, we've got a lot of guys, a lot of young guys that haven't been part of it. I think they're ready for it. Yeah, we've kind of gotten this taste of playoff atmosphere. But also have a lot of guys that are like, you know, deer in the headlights and, like, hey, who cares? We've got nothing to lose. Let's go for it.

So I think that's kind of a positive for us going in. Like, hey, let's do it.

Q. Would you describe it as a switch that flipped at all once that, on Sunday, the game's over and you were ready to pack up and head here?

JAKE ROGERS: Yeah, I think we were always kind of ready. It was a very big celebration, and we had a good time. After that game, it was like, all right, on to the next one. It kind of just feels like another road trip. Obviously, in the back of our head, it's postseason. It's like we're back in Houston playing again.

Q. What is the challenge of playing Houston, specifically game plan-wise?

JAKE ROGERS: It's a good team. It's a good team. They've got some good starters. Obviously, they're going to throw Framber at us today and probably Kikuchi and Hunter Brown. They've got some arms in the bullpen too. And no shortage of bad hitters either. I mean, this is a good lineup through and through. Overall, it's a good team.

I think with Framber going tonight, they've got to get to the starters early and go from there. It's just an all-around good team, and we're just going to play some fun baseball and hopefully score a few runs.

Q. Jake, you've talked about Tarik all year. I'm not sure there's a ton left to say. What is it about him behind the scenes, the way he goes about his work? What else have you noticed that you think has allowed him to take this leap?

JAKE ROGERS: Man, yeah. I don't think you can ever talk too much about Skub this year. Just what he's done is obvious with the numbers. Obviously, in the regular season. But, yeah, as a person, he's one of my favorite people ever, which I think makes it easier for me to root for him.

But on the other hand, I mean, he's just a hard worker. I mean, he's got such a great routine. He sticks to the routine every day. He's pitched for us every five, six days, and just absolutely chuffed. I think that speaks to him and how he goes about his business.

But, yeah, I can't really put into words how good he's been and that flip that he's done. But I think the confidence and the routine and him sticking and being himself is a huge step for him.

Q. Did you ever catch for Framber coming up?

JAKE ROGERS: I did. I caught Framber. I think the last time I caught him was Quad Cities in low A. I might have caught him in high A. But, yeah, I caught him a lot coming up. Again, that was a long time ago. But, yeah, I've caught him a little bit.

Q. Do you remember what the stuff was like back then, and are you surprised it's turned into what it has at this level?

JAKE ROGERS: Not surprised at all. Not surprised at all. We had a lot of good arms back then. A lot of those guys are in the big leagues now. Framber was always up there as a guy that just had great stuff. And he was always really hard to catch, which if it's hard to catch, it's hard to hit.

So, yeah, he's -- I always knew he was going to be really good, and he's been nasty ever since then.

Q. Jake, when Tarik pitched here a few months ago in June, he pitched well except for that one inning. It was like a really quick stretch.

JAKE ROGERS: Yeah, yeah.

Q. When you're game planning for that lineup, how much do you look back on that and see what you can learn, and how much do you kind of wipe the slate clean and say, hey, different season. It may as well have happened last year?

JAKE ROGERS: I think you take a little bit from it. I watched those at-bats last night and a couple days ago. I'm sure he's done his homework.

That was a crazy, crazy start. He'll say it too, it got out of hand pretty quick there. I think it was in the 6th or 7th. I can't remember.

Yeah, we watched those at-bats, but we're going to go in today like every other day. We're going to go in and have a meeting soon and go in and plan on attacking the hitters, and some things that worked that day, we'll go off that. Some things that didn't, we might go a different way.

So that will be for the meeting here in a little bit.

Q. Real quick, I know we talked the other day about having family here. Do you have an idea yet how many family are coming in?

JAKE ROGERS: I left ten tickets today. I'm not sure who else is coming. As far as the tickets I left, ten.

THE MODERATOR: Jake, thanks for coming in.