AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS GUARDIANS

October 5, 2024

Tanner Bibee

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Cleveland - 7, Detroit - 0

Q. Was it hard giving up the ball there in the fifth? It looked like you wanted to stay out there a little longer?

TANNER BIBEE: Yeah. I always want to stay out there. But, I mean, it's postseason. I totally get it. With how good our pen has been, I get it. It makes sense. Obviously I want to stay out there as long as possible, but I get it.

Q. You talked yesterday about the energy and the emotion that you would probably feel going out on the mound today. When you walked off, it felt like you were firing up the crowd. Can you take us through your emotions throughout the game and then when you left it today?

TANNER BIBEE: Yeah, I mean, the past three days felt like there was a lead block in my stomach. But I think once I kind of got through that first inning, I felt like it was a nice weight off the shoulders. I feel like I've done a lot in my first two years, whether it's pitch for a team who's out of it, pitch for a team who's in it, and to kind of get that first out of the way was pretty nice.

Q. Sort of a two-part question. First, your mental preparation now that you can look back on it, do you feel good about the way you prepped for the game today? And curious, did you pick Shane Bieber's brain at all about what it's like to set the tone here and be a Game 1 starter?

TANNER BIBEE: Yeah. For the second part of the question, I talked to Shane. Shane called me a couple of days ago because I was texting him and asking him a couple of questions about the first postseason starts. And we couldn't really connect, and then he got here this morning. So he talked to me and he gave me some pointers.

And ever since I made my debut last year, Shane has been kind of like my mentor. And having him kind of be away has been kind of tough. But, I mean, we all figure it out. But having him here before that, his words before the game definitely really helped me.

And with the mental game, I think I talked to my mental guy last night, Brian Cain. And I texted him. I was like, hey, man, my stomach has been hurting for the past three days. What do I need to do here? And he sent me this video from John Johns when he was I think like 17 or 18 years old, and he talked about keeping the butterflies in formation because you're going to keep -- you're going to have butterflies. You're going to be nervous because you care. So just keeping that adrenaline, keeping that like anxiety, keeping that excitement going in the right direction can only help you. And I feel like I did a good job of that once he told me that.

Q. Could you talk about the way you reacted to the fans, raising your arms like that? That was kind of cool.

TANNER BIBEE: Yeah. It was a pretty cool moment. I feel like, I don't know, man, it was just all natural. I think those first five innings it felt like took forever. So I feel like it was just when I finally got off the mound I was like, oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Q. How do you balance the excitement of watching your team have a first inning like that offensively with staying locked in and being ready to go back out there and pitch?

TANNER BIBEE: It's definitely tough. I mean, I think to see what they did in the first inning, kind of grind through their opener, kind of get them out of the game pretty quick, I mean, it was awesome.

That's kind of what we've been built on. And I think for -- I feel like for me I was trying to stay as steady as possible. Because if they put up five in the first, then I go out there and give up a couple runs, that five doesn't mean as much.

So I feel like at that point you gotta get excited but you kind of gotta stay locked in for that next inning because the next inning at that point in the game is the most important inning of the game.

Q. That home run by Lane, it's 5-0. Where were your emotions at that point?

TANNER BIBEE: I mean, I was super excited. I feel like with Lane, when he first got here, he had a little bit of a hard time. And then once he started figuring it out, I mean, he's been unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable in the clubhouse, unbelievable person, and unbelievable player. And I feel like when he hit that home run, I feel like everyone in the dugout was -- yeah, you -- everyone was super excited.

Q. Tanner, you said before you get it with the bullpen. But what kind of comfort level does it give everybody knowing that when you walked in the dugout today that that door was opening up and those guys were coming out?

TANNER BIBEE: I mean, I feel like everyone in this world knows that whenever Cade Smith is coming in that you're going to get a pretty good performance. I mean, giving the ball up with him, I've done it a bunch of times this year where I come out in the middle of an inning and Cade comes in, and I feel like almost every time he shut the door. So I come out of the game extremely confident that he's going to get the job done. They've done it all year, and they're going to continue to do it.