AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 14, 2024

Tanner Bibee

Yankee Stadium

Cleveland Guardians

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. Tanner, what do you remember feeling when you made your second Big League start at this stadium against Cole?

TANNER BIBEE: I think it was a pretty awesome feeling. I think obviously Major League debut, a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings. It was midweek against the Rockies and then coming here for the second start against the Yankees, against Gerrit Cole, it was definitely a different feeling.

Me and Cole being from the same area is pretty cool. We had the same college coach too. So it was a pretty awesome feeling.

Q. Obviously it's still the same game, but what do you learn more maybe in this setting now that you have two postseason starts under your belt?

TANNER BIBEE: I think the nerves go away a little bit and you can kind of stay within yourself a little more. Obviously the first one, a lot of adrenaline the first time. Game 1 of the postseason, it's very, very high energy.

Second time, emotions went down a little bit. I was a little bit off, but I feel like I battled enough to keep the confidence.

I think Game 3, they say third time's the charm.

Q. Tanner, you had such a good year, so many starts where you go six, seven innings. When it's the postseason and there's a quicker hook, how do you kind of handle that? Do you just sort of accept it, or do you wish you could pitch a little longer? How does it go?

TANNER BIBEE: I always want to pitch as long as I can. Obviously every starting pitcher wants to go nine. They want to go seven, eight, nine innings. But I think in the postseason, there's not really much to handle.

We've had a historic bullpen. And my job is to hand the ball to them. My job is not to be as stingy as possible, give the ball to all those guys back there that have been the best bullpen for a lot of years.

Q. What are the specific challenges in pitching to Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in particular?

TANNER BIBEE: Obviously they're really good hitters, and it's super challenging of course. The park, the atmosphere, it's all super cool, and it's super fun because pretty unique for the other 29 stadiums.

But I feel like for me, if I just execute what my strengths are and what our plan is, I don't know if it's a super outlier. They are outliers as human beings, but I think for me, you can't look at it like that because we're pretty much co-workers.

Q. Tanner, given your workload this season, how do you feel your body has held up going into a game where you're riding a lot of momentum? Do you feel your training has gotten you to this moment the way you hoped it would?

TANNER BIBEE: Yeah, body's holding up pretty well. I think, usually when I step on that rubber, usually a lot of those body feeling bad is erased by adrenaline. I think this is a personal record of innings for me by, I think, probably 30, something like that. So the body is holding up pretty well.

Q. Before your start here, were you aware of the short porch or did the Volpe shot wake you up to that? Do you have to pitch somewhat differently at times because of it?

TANNER BIBEE: I think everyone in baseball is aware of the short porch. It's talked about a lot. I don't think Volpe's shot really in that game woke me up to it. We get to hit on it too. It is not necessarily an advantage for them mor us or whatever. It is what it is. It's our nine against their nine in the game.

Q. I meant do you pitch a little bit differently in those circumstances?

TANNER BIBEE: No, because they've got to square up my stuff just as much as I either miss their bats or get weak contact. If they hit it out that way, they hit it out that way. I mean, it is what it is. People were saying we had wind tunnels too, so it's kind of the same thing.