NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 4, 2024

Dylan Cease

Dodger Stadium

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Your last start was against these guys. What are some of the challenges of having to do it again in a kind of ramped-up atmosphere now?

DYLAN CEASE: I think for me I'm not really looking at it any differently than last time. I'm kind of just learning from that experience. The biggest thing is just I feel like that gave me a little bit of kind of an experience and a look into what this will be like.

Obviously it will be more intense. But if anything I look at it as it was kind of preparing me for this.

Q. How did you do that preparation knowing that you could have faced Atlanta and now you face these guys? Were you focused on the Braves until you weren't?

DYLAN CEASE: I was more focused on what I was doing, kind of work on the mechanics making sure I like how the ball's coming out of my hand.

And since I just faced them, I have a lot of their lineup kind of fresh in my mind on an attack plan. It was more of just focusing on putting myself in the position where I feel like I was going to execute as consistent as possible, which for me was kind of working on mechanics.

Q. You've had pretty good success against Ohtani. I was noting 4-for-15, couple home runs, four RBIs. What do you basically to suppress what he does? And was a lot of this here or did you face him last year in Chicago when he was with the Angels?

DYLAN CEASE: I faced him when he was with the Angels. Obviously he's a great hitter. You've got to mix it up and do the best you can to not leave it over the heart of the plate, really.

Q. Does he have a hole?

DYLAN CEASE: I mean, I don't want to get into too many details on anything, but he's obviously a great hitter. So I'm going to go in with a high level of focus and just attack.

Q. How tough is it for you guys that Joe Musgrove is not going to be part of this, at least for now, with you guys?

DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, it's unfortunate that he's not, performance-wise, going to be out there. But he's a big part of our clubhouse and a leader. He'll be with us in other ways. But it's definitely unfortunate.

But either way we're going to pick up the slack and we're just going to keep moving forward.

Q. As a teammate and rotation mate the first year, what did Joe mean to you?

DYLAN CEASE: He meant a lot. He's a great leader, great teammate. Being from San Diego, really kind of helped show me around and show me the culture and everything. I'm grateful I was able to be around him so much this year.

Q. Has there ever been a hitter that you haven't challenged and you're very confident in your stuff, good stuff? But you've got Shohei and a couple of really good hitters behind him. This is a unique lineup, would you face them differently than you have anybody?

DYLAN CEASE: I mean, in general, baseball's kind of a game where you have to do certain things if you're going to have success. If you pitch timidly and you walk guys or you fall behind, you're really just setting yourself up for failure.

At the end of the day, it's a challenge and it's difficult, but you've got to kind of rise to the occasion and meet it.