NL WILD CARD SERIES: BRAVES VS PADRES

October 2, 2024

Ozzie Albies

Petco Park

Atlanta Braves

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Obviously you guys have experienced everything that there is in this game. What's the mood like coming in? What's the message in there?

OZZIE ALBIES: The mood is we've got to come and be positive and go for the win. That's the only thing that we focus on tonight.

Q. How do you get the offense going?

OZZIE ALBIES: Keep battling and stay aggressive. That's all we can do because we had a great performance from King yesterday. But today is a new day and gotta go battle again.

Q. You might have covered this you're hitting right-handed against right-handed pitching. Outside of these last at-bats when was the last time you've been on the right side versus right-handed pitching?

OZZIE ALBIES: If I'm not mistaken, it was 2021, World Series, against Greinke is the last time I hit off like off a pitcher not a position player.

Q. How comfortable are you? You've spent most of your time when you're healthy hitting left-handed against righties, right-handed against lefties. How comfortable are you in that spot?

OZZIE ALBIES: It gets comfortable. The more pitches and at-bats I get it gets more and more comfortable. But it's definitely a good challenge for myself. It's not that easy -- right on right or left on left. Definitely harder.

Q. How confident are you guys with how Max performed in his last game coming into tonight, being a left-handed pitcher against this lineup? Does it give you more confidence as batters?

OZZIE ALBIES: Yes, Max is a great pitcher. He always has shown that, even in the playoffs. We're confident he's going to give us all we need and we're going to go score runs for him so we can take a W today.

Q. Does it fell like this season has been, all seasons are extraordinarily long, but does it feel like this one has been really long given all the different wrinkles and the injuries and all the IL stints and what you've had to overcome and all the changes in the roster?

OZZIE ALBIES: It definitely wasn't a season we're looking for. It's definitely harder when your everyday starters get hurt. We kept our heads up and playing hard, and the guys that field the positions, they kept playing hard and helped the team get Ws for us to be in the playoffs. All around we're happy to be in the playoffs, and now we've just got to focus on winning.

Q. You and Max came up together. What's it been like to see him go from that rookie to one of the best pitchers in the game?

OZZIE ALBIES: Oh, amazing. We came up the same year and he's always performed really good. He's an all-star for life now. He can really pitch. I'm really happy to see how he developed and got better and better every single year.