AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS GUARDIANS

October 9, 2024

Stephen Vogt

Comerica Park

Cleveland Guardians

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Stephen, do you have a Game 4 starter, and how did you get to whatever determination, if you did?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. Tanner Bibee will start tomorrow. He's on regular rest. He's ready to go.

Q. Thoughts on Montero. Obviously saw him in Game 1. What does he do well?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. We faced him in the regular season as well. He can get to the top rail of his fastball. He's got a couple good off-speed pitches. He's used a change-up, curveball against our lefties. He's kept us off balance.

So we know we got our work cut out for us, but we have a good plan of attack against him.

Q. Stephen, you've known Alex Cobb for a long time in this game. What is it about his mental makeup that you feel confident he's going to match the moment today?

STEPHEN VOGT: He's prepared. You know, I think it's been a while since he's thrown in a major baseball game, but he's also been staying sharp with bullpens and sim games, but it's also his pedigree that he's earned for himself over the course of his career.

And Alex, we know he's going to go out and make his pitches. He's stubborn to who he is and not going to deviate from who he is, and I think that's what gives us a lot of confidence going into today.

Q. Stephen, Manzardo hitting second. What do you like about him there?

STEPHEN VOGT: He's been hitting there for a while versus right-hand pitching. He gives us a good at-bat in between Kwany and Josey. He's got the ability to drive the ball in the gaps, drive the ball to the yard, and he's really had good at-bats over the last month.

Q. With Kyle, he seems, at least to us, so relaxed. How do you think that'll translate to this environment?

STEPHEN VOGT: I think it'll help him a lot. He's been a much different player, different person the second stint when he's been with us. We've talked about this over the course of the year. When you come up for the first time and maybe don't quite feel comfortable in the role you're in, trying to get used to a new environment and you get a chance to go back to Triple-A, play with remembering the things that you learned your first stint, and he's come back and just been very consistent for us.

He's got a very calm demeanor, and I think that really helps in the big moments.

Q. You know you're here for two days, and after Game 1 you had an off day. After Game 2 you had an off day. Do you have to manage your bullpen a little bit differently today knowing that you have a game tomorrow?

STEPHEN VOGT: I think we're going to do what we've done all year, and we go to the bullpen when it's time. Yeah, maybe we're not going to run everybody's pitch count all the way up. It's the same as a regular season mentality today. We've got a game tomorrow, but we need to worry about today and we'll figure out tomorrow tomorrow.

Q. I know you saw these guys 13 times in the regular season, but you're seeing probably a different iteration of them now in the playoffs. Just through two games, anyway, what makes them tough to manage against, tough to play against from your perspective?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. I think maybe some of the names have changed, but it's the same team we've played all year, and that's they're going to match up in the bullpen. They're going to match up with their lineup.

They're a good baseball team full of good players who can get it done. These are two very similar teams that have very good lineups and very good pitching.

And they play good defense. What we've seen with the Tigers all year is they play us tough. We play them tough. And I have a feeling however many more games we play in this series, they're going to be close and come down to the wire.