NL DIVISION SERIES: METS VS PHILLIES

October 6, 2024

Kyle Schwarber

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. How many times have you worn sunglasses when you hit in the past? And you were the only guy I think yesterday who was wearing them. Why are you comfortable with that? Are you telling other guys to do that today?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I mean, it's all personal preference. I mean, for me, it started for me back in 2018. I was playing a game in Colorado and it was a day game, it was bright and they were white jerseys. It was hard to see. It felt like the center fielder was staying where the ball was being thrown out of. So I just wanted to make it a little bit darker, and felt like it was good. Ever since then I've just worn sunglasses in the day.

Yeah, I mean there's -- I think it's all personal preference. A lot of guys, if you think about it, a lot it comes down to what eye dominant you are. If I'm a right-handed hitter and I'm right eye dominant, and so now I'm looking kind of at the pitcher and then you might be seeing a nosepiece, you might be seeing something else. I'm left-handed but right eye dominant, so I don't really notice the nosepiece. A lot of guys talk about that.

It comes down to personal preference in what you want, and go from there.

Q. Your numbers are up this year, and mostly on the strength of not just hitting against lefties, but hitting successfully against sinker sliders against lefties. But how much was that a focus in the offseason?

KYLE SCHWARBER: For me it's like you try to identify things that you want to work on. Obviously from both sides of the mound, right, where it's right-handed, left-handed pitchers. And I feel like if you're able to try to work on a lot of different things, working on just a lot of different pitches in general, and trying to figure out the best way to attack the baseball is, you know, I feel like it's a positive thing to do.

You make adjustments throughout the course of the season, throughout the course of the offseason. You look at your numbers from the previous year. Obviously you take a deep dive into that and then you have an offseason plan that you try to go in with, and then you make little adjustments as the year goes on.

But I feel like that -- I've definitely felt, you know, more comfortable against a lefty, that I feel like that if I can kind of bridge that to, you know, guys behind me if they try to bring a lefty in that spot, you get Trea with a guy on first base, whatever it is, and then Harp's coming up with a guy, that's big.

Q. You've talked about visualizing winning the World Series and you guys talk about it. You've been open about it with each other and consistent. How important is it to visualize when you guys go down or at any point, and how do you maintain your breath at that point, too, in those moments?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah, it's a series, right? That's why it's a series. Do you want to win the first game of the series? Absolutely. You feel like you have a great performance yesterday from Wheeler, which was phenomenal, and we just weren't able to finish it. And that's baseball sometimes. And that's why there's a series.

You've got to put the pieces together to figure out a way to win three games. And would it be great to -- would it be great -- you can ask them on the same side, do they want to sweep? They want to sweep us, I'm sure. They want this thing to be over as quickly as they can. But also, too, this is a series and we have to figure out what we're going to do. We have to respond today and see what happens. If we go out there with a win, then we're split 1-1, we're going to New York and piece it together from there.

Q. As a hitter it seems like in the past whether you get no hits or three hits and two home runs, it doesn't matter if the team wins. Similarly, whether they win or lose the game you can isolate that as you're allowed to lose two games, it's about how you construct the series, and however you get there. You don't get too discouraged if something doesn't go the way you want.

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah, that's the biggest thing for us as a group, if we can stay in the mindset of -- I know this for a fact, everyone in the room up there, when we're walking out of those doors for game time, we're expecting to win the game. You've got to have that mindset, you've got to have that mindset that we're going to go win a baseball game.

You know what, this is baseball that you can feel like you had your A stuff and you get shut out. Or you had your D game and you just won 10-3. That's how this game is.

For us as a group, we have to be able to still have that up here (indicating) and when we walk out for that game today, have our plan, have our approach, have the discipline, and go out there and play our game and we're going to take the result at the end of the game.

Q. Nick was saying after yesterday's game that both teams had difficulty hitting the ball with the late afternoon shadows. Is that really a thing or just something you guys just have to adjust to?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Well, it's definitely something we're going to have to adjust to just because it's there. I think if you were to talk to any hitter in the Big Leagues, you'd hope for a game without shadows just because it's a -- when you go from the ball going from different shades, when it's bright, dark, bright, whatever it is, in the batter's eyes it's bright, this is dark, it can make it difficult. But at the end of the day also, both teams have got to do it.

For us we've got to be able to adjust to it and go from there. We played 4 o'clock games here before, and for us we've just got to find a way to get it done. And ideally would you want to play in a shadow game? Probably not. But it's what's given to us and we've got to attack it.

Q. Really since last year you guys have been asked a billion times about chase, not chasing. As you guys go into today's game as a group, how do you take those negative thoughts out of your head and maintain an aggressiveness and have quality at-bats? But it seems like a yin and yang there.

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah, I think the challenge for us is that where if we can be aggressive to where we want to be, I think that's going to be plus for us. If we're going to be aggressive to where I could be different to where, you know, Bryce wants to be or where Trea wants to be or where Bryce and Nick, whoever, you go through the lineup. If you want to be aggressive to where you want to be in the zone, that's going to be a good thing.

I think that's the way we have to attack it. And chase happens, right? It's part of the game. Stuff is great now. Everyone throws great stuff. And, you know, it's part of the game. But also, too, if we're able to be as I guess selective, right, selective is a word that, you know, selective to where you want to be, besides don't chase, you know, no one's going in -- talking in the room saying, don't chase, don't chase, don't chase, right? We're talking about where we want to be in the zone.