MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 25, 2024

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Dodgers - 6, Yankees - 3

Q. You've gone through -- had a lot of incredible moments in your career. How does that compare? Walk us through your mindset. What's going through your mind when you see Freddie swing?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's arguably one of the -- might be the greatest baseball moment I've ever witnessed, and I've witnessed some great ones. As the inning started, you're just trying to think about getting Shohei to the plate. Once they decided to walk Mookie, I just felt good with Freddie at the plate. And just that swing, you knew it was gone.

Just pure elation. You don't see teams celebrate after a game, a walkoff like that, but I just think it was certainly warranted. Man, it was a great game before that, but the way it finished, I just couldn't be more excited for our guys.

Q. Obviously Cole pitched well for them, right? This probably was unfolding the way they wanted it to up to a certain point. For you guys to be able to take this game, how important is that?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's huge. I think, if you looked at the way we both used our pens, certainly with urgency, rightfully so. For us to come away with the win was big.

Gerrit was good. He was good. We had a couple opportunities in the middle innings to get a run situationally and didn't, weren't able to come through. But we just kept persevering, kept grinding, and created another opportunity in the ninth, and we got the big hit.

Q. In the moment, are you able to appreciate how good a baseball game you were just a part of?

DAVE ROBERTS: Maybe not in the moment, but after the hit, I really appreciated how it was.

No, I think that -- it was a well-played baseball game. There was some good pitching, some defense, good at-bats, the crowd was into it from pitch one. So it was an old-school baseball game.

Gosh, the dramatics of how we finished was pretty spectacular.

Q. How difficult a decision is it to walk to somebody to get to Aaron Judge?

DAVE ROBERTS: It is. It's never easy. I think the same thing could be posed to Booney to walk Mookie to get to Freddie. It's never comfortable. You've just got to sort of believe in your process and the matchup that you got right there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Q. They get the left-on-left matchup with the walk, but still Freddie Freeman, do you think he takes that personal at all?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think he did, and I think he should. It's still obviously a decision that Aaron felt good about, but any player -- I've walked guys, and it's worked out. I walk them, and it doesn't work out. They should take it personal. They're competitors, and that's the way it should be.

Q. When you saw Freddie legging out that triple earlier in the game, what was going through your mind?

DAVE ROBERTS: Stop.

(Laughter).

He was already in scoring position, but he's a baseball player, and it caromed off away from Alex. So he was smart to get to third base, the extra 90 feet. I was happy he came out of it upright.

Q. Through the past couple of series, it seems like each guy has a moment that delivers you to the next stage in a big way, and tonight was Freddie's moment. What can you say about what this means for him and the composition of your team that's gotten you to this spot?

DAVE ROBERTS: I remember talking about in Spring Training how each guy has got to want to be the guy at the plate when the game's on the line. Each pitcher has got to want to be the pitcher when the game's on the line. Each defender, fielder, has got to want the ball hit to them when the game's on the line. I think that landed with our guys.

To your question, there's been a lot of times where guys have made big pitches, got big hits, and Freddie that last series was ailing. For him to come back and pick us up, huge tonight. Not surprising, but I'm sure it made him feel really good. But you can see the elation, how happy the guys were for him because the last few weeks, it's been a grind for him just to get on the field.

Q. Thoughts on Brusdar that seventh inning, his first outing in a month facing that tough matchup.

DAVE ROBERTS: That was the bet for us. We're betting on Brusdar's heartbeat, the stuff. He hasn't pitched in forever, put him in a big spot, threw up a zero and kept us in the ballgame. He was lights out tonight.

Q. How fun was going through that decision-making today? It felt like a chess match today all throughout the game.

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it was a chess match, and obviously it was a tight game. You just -- I didn't have much margin, so we had to kind of keep the game close. So you're trying to use the right guys and appreciate that there's more baseball to be played. It was fun now that I look back at it, but in the moment you're just really trying to kind of play chess, I guess.

Q. You incessantly see the clip of Kirk Gibson's homer here. How does it compare when you look at that?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's iconic. I think we win three more games, that's going to be right up there with it.

Q. It was Game 1 too, right?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, everything was the same outside of the fist pumps, yeah.

Q. Where were you when that happened?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't recall. It was a long time ago. I was probably on a football field at that point in time.

Q. With Freddie's intent to play 162 with what happened to his finger, with his son, with the ankle, the totality of all of it, how much do you root for Freddie in that situation? And as a human, just how good did that feel?

DAVE ROBERTS: The game honors you, and when you do things the right way, you play the right way, you're a good teammate, I just believe that the game honors you. Tonight Freddie was honored.

So it's been a trying year for him, but to his credit, he's found a way to kind of keep moving forward for his teammates and post. So couldn't be happier.

Q. Score one for the Bruins, I guess. It seems like every three or four days we're talking about how masterfully you manage your bullpen. How are you pulling this rabbit out of a hat every single, it seems like every game?

DAVE ROBERTS: We have good players. They're performing, and they're just all in for whatever I ask of them, whatever our pitching coaches ask of them. So they make me look good.

I have a lot of good players, and they understand that it's about getting 27 outs a night. It could be anyone at any given moment. But tonight Jack started the game and pitched his tail off. Made one bad pitch, but he pitched great, which was big.

It kind of then allowed me to deploy the guys the way it made sense.

Q. Can you talk to me about Flaherty and his ability to strike out Aaron Judge three times. Scouting Aaron Judge, how was that?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was great. I think obviously he used the breaking ball, and that 3-2 strikeout with the fastball was a big strikeout right there.

Aaron is an MVP. He's going to win it this year, and you've got to be careful. Even when we went to walk Soto to get to Judge, that never feels good. You've got to be careful. You've got to be careful of those guys. If they make a mistake, they're going to make you pay. Yeah, Jack pitched him really well tonight.