AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS GUARDIANS

October 8, 2024

Stephen Vogt

Comerica Park

Cleveland Guardians

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Stephen, was there a particular message to your team yesterday? Did you talk to them? Did you just kind of let them do their own thing after a tough loss like that?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah, no. I never really address the team after a game, so I'm not going to do that now. But our guys played awesome yesterday. There's really nothing to take away from that game other than we got beat. And we're coming into Detroit with the series even, and we know what's at stake, and we're ready to go.

Q. When we talked to Jhonkensy last night about the play that he made, he said that he was just trying to be like Steven Kwan and he wanted to turn and fire like he does. What does it mean to you guys -- it seems like in almost every aspect of your roster there's someone that everyone can look to. What does it mean to have like a Kwan out there that the outfielders, especially how young some of them are, can look at?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. Our team is full of leadership, and that looks different to everybody. And the way Steven Kwan attacks the outfield work, the pregame, the throwing to bases in practice, you know, we work on that every day. We work on that every series. And J.T. Maguire has done a phenomenal job with all of our outfielders having them ready.

We throw to bases every three, four days. We're prepared. And for Jhonkensy to credit he wanted to make a Kwan play, it's perfect because Kwany takes pride in his accurate throws. And I think that's the only replay I've watched from yesterday, and, wow, what a throw Jhonkensy made.

Q. We've talked to you all year about how you process games in this role. After a result like that, whether you want to learn from it, just turning the page, that night or the next morning, what's the best way for you to process something like that?

STEPHEN VOGT: You know, you replay everything, every decision that you made. And I wouldn't change a thing about the way the game went yesterday. We just didn't win. And I think when you process each loss, each win, you can nitpick, you can look at little things, you can do this.

But at the end of the day, that was a great Major League Baseball game that was played yesterday, and they just happened to get the big hit, and we didn't. And after processing, that's just what it was. That game could have gone in any direction at any time, and they got the big hit.

Q. Knowing now that there is going to be a Game 4, assuming you had contingency plans for what your pitching was going to look like for that, are you able to give us an indication as to --

STEPHEN VOGT: We don't know exactly what we're going to do yet. I mean, we know we have Tanner available. We've got a lot of things at our disposal, but we have not put our heads together yet on Game 4. We're concerned with tomorrow, and then we'll reconvene. I should have an answer for you guys tomorrow.

Q. Would a bullpen game be an option in that situation?

STEPHEN VOGT: We haven't even begun to talk about that scenario yet. So, again, the cadence we've had all year is worry about today -- win today, worry about tomorrow tomorrow. So, like I said, we should have an answer for you tomorrow.

Q. Stephen, being a former catcher, is there a cardinal rule about throwing the same pitch three times in a row, referring to the three sliders to Carpenter?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. I think, you know, you can look at that however you'd like. And, like I said, I don't pay attention to our sequencing in game. That's not my area. What we do is we talk about it and what can we learn from it.

I don't think there's any cardinal rule. I think it's -- what's true is that Carpenter got a slider close to him that he hit out for a homer. How he got there or what we did or whether or not that was the right pitch, that's not really a question that we need to ask. It's more of what can we learn from what happened and how can we get better. At the end of the day, a really good hitter hit a good pitch for a homer.

Q. Stephen, I mean, obviously yesterday's game was a great game. As you said, there's been a lot of great games in major baseball. This postseason has been exciting, but on the American League side of things specifically, what is the American League Central showing to the rest of baseball when this division not just for this year but for years has kind of been looked down upon nationally?

STEPHEN VOGT: I think it shows the quality of baseball that's played in this division. I think -- this is my first year in this division as well. So it's five good baseball teams. Even the White Sox played us very, very tough. I know their record didn't indicate that, but every team that we've played in the Central has played us very, very tough, and it's good baseball.

You maybe don't have the big-name star power like you do all around the league, but you get very good baseball teams that play you tough and are fundamentally sound. And it's been really fun to see three teams going this deep into the postseason and putting up really good games.

Q. Stephen, much has justifiably been made of those big four at the back of your bullpen, but just how vital are the other guys that bridge your rotation to the back end of the bullpen, the kind of role players among that group?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. Like I've said all year, we've had eight or nine very good arms in that bullpen, and we trust all of them in every situation. And that's been one of the biggest keys to our success is that anyone could take the ball in any situation, versus left, versus right. Doesn't matter. They've come in and gotten the job done.

And just a testament to our player development, to our coaching staff, and to the players most importantly. They put in their work and they're prepared and they're confident, and we feel comfortable giving any of those guys the ball at any time.

Q. You guys have had so much time off between the end of the season and the ALDS. Would you rather just be playing today, or is this a good time kind of to regroup?

STEPHEN VOGT: It's what the schedule says. You know, I don't know any different. I think you could say get into a groove or not, but the Tigers have had the same schedule as us. So we were thankful for the five days off that we got. We were able to get some rest and feel like we're playing good baseball.

So I wouldn't change a thing, and we're going to do what the schedule tells us to do. So we'll be ready to go tomorrow, and then we'll see.