MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 30, 2024

Dave Roberts

Yankee Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 5 Press Conference

Q. Facing Gerrit Cole for the second time in this series, what does the presence at the plate have to be for your offense to get the best possible result against him knowing he'll make some adjustments?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think with Gerrit he likes to pitch at the top of the zone. There's going to be velocity. And I think for us, just to know where the top of the zone is and try to get into good counts and be disciplined and expect a good pitch to hit.

Q. When you watched Jack in Game 5 against the Mets and then Jack in Game 1 of this series, what were the biggest differences that you saw that changed the level of success he had in those two games?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think in Game 5 he was under the weather. I know he was, he was under the weather. He was kind of on day 3 of something, so he just didn't have the strength. Certainly the stuff speaks to that.

In Game 1 he was rested and felt good and came out and threw a good ballgame. Today it's regular rest. He's in good spirits, very focused. He feels good health-wise. We'll see how it goes, but I expect him to pitch well tonight.

Q. Looking at the interference play with Mookie last night, do you think your players worry about their safety here?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, I don't think so. If there's one player that I don't think is worried would be Mookie given that he played a lot of games in this ballpark. It was just an unfortunate circumstance. I'm glad it was dealt with the right way, and we can just move on to tonight.

Q. I was just going to follow up with that as far as dealt with the right way. Do you think they struck the appropriate measures banning them?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think so. As I understand it, they got booted. We didn't need them to be here, so they refunded their tickets. So that's perfect, right?

Q. Globally, when did this whole notion of high leverage and low leverage relievers start kicking in? I don't remember it any earlier than this year, and I had long talks with Torey Lovullo about it this year. What's your take on all that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's actually -- I think you're very aware of it. I think it's more like most things now, there's names to things. I'm sure Bruce Bochy back in the '80s had relievers that he trusted and guys that he didn't trust as much. So he used them in different situations.

I think now to quantify things or give things a name, I guess high and low leverage kind of speaks to that.

Q. To that point, Bochy had Trevor. Most teams had a stud closer, and then the rest of their bullpen fell in line behind that, whether they were setup guys or whatever they did. Now the notion of a high level closer seems to have dissipated and nobody can stay in the job for that long. You had Kenley for a long time, but since then you've had a rotation of closers. What's happened with that?

DAVE ROBERTS: So starting pitching back in the day, even as far as 20 years ago, went deeper in the game. So you didn't need as many relievers, number one. What happened with Kenley? He's with the Red Sox. It's a different roster.

I do like the fact that we have different guys that have finished games because it kind of protects against usage, a guy being down, different part of the lineup, lefties, righties. It's worked out well for us as far as games at the end -- innings at the end of a game, our success rate.

Q. Just one last one on this. You as a manager, would you rather have a relief staff that you could really sock in and out of anything? All these guys could do whatever you needed them to do in any circumstances than what you have now?

DAVE ROBERTS: I would argue that our guys can do whatever I ask of them. And I've shown that. Pitching them in the middle of the game, late in games, versus lefties, versus righties. I think I'm afforded with the luxury of having my cake and eating it.

Q. Your players have you to calm them down in moments like this. Who calms you down, or how do you keep your cool, calm, and collectedness in these moments where we could win the whole thing tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: I have a good poker face. I think I just -- I think when I expend all my energy on the players and kind of the process of how you get through a game, prepare for a game, that's as much bandwidth as I can handle. Yeah, I don't know who keeps me calm.

Q. Moving back to last night, is there any -- after a night of sleep where you say last night, eh, might have changed that decision. Or conversely, one where you say we actually did that well even though there's a loss.

DAVE ROBERTS: I think if I could foresee the future, I would do some things different. Given your question, an honest answer is I wouldn't have. I wish the ball wouldn't have popped out of Gavin's glove, the Volpe double. I wish we could have kept it so Weaver would have had to stay in the game.

But as far as kind of leverage and how we use guys, what Landon Knack did for us, I don't think we could ask anything more, four innings and giving up one run. I don't think any reliever could have done the same or we could have asked for more.

I liked Hudson versus Volpe right there. On pitch number 20, he just didn't make a pitch, and Volpe, got to give him credit. So I really wouldn't have done anything different.

Right now we're in a good spot, a great spot, and our focus is to win tonight.

Q. You seem to identify with this team. Do they remind you of you?

DAVE ROBERTS: They do. They're just more talented, but they do remind me of me.

I had the toughness, but I didn't have the talent of Mookie Betts. Yeah, I think so, and I think that's the way it should be.

I love people that fight. I don't know if it's my football background, but the playoffs, as I've said many times, it's a fight. It's a scrap. It's a dogfight. It has to be that way.

Q. You've talked a lot over the years just about the closeness of the bond with the '04 team in Boston. Over the past like 24 hours, I'm just curious if any of those fellows have reached out to you to suggest nipping this thing in the bud and protecting that group's place in history?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know what? No, they haven't. We are still very close, but I haven't gotten those texts. And that's more incentive for me, so thank you for that. There's one comeback, and that's all there needs to be.

Q. I'm just wondering if getting a message like that would be uplifting or maybe irritating at this time?

DAVE ROBERTS: Maybe a little bit of both, like most things, right?

Q. Dave, do you ever look at the names of the starting pitchers that you have on the IL and ask yourself, how did we ever get to the World Series? B, do you ever think about what might have been this week?

DAVE ROBERTS: A little bit, a little bit. But I try to keep it to a small group of people and make sure the players don't hear that.

It's crazy. Our roster is constructed so well, so deep. We've been on teams where it's the best teams we had in the optimum situations and we didn't win the last game of the season. So this is a very different team, a very close-knit team, a very talented team.

But again, we have guys that I feel very confident that can get 27 outs, that can prevent runs, and I feel we can score more than them. So that's kind of what it comes down to. But I don't let my mind go there too far because, yeah, to have Clayton, Glasnow, May, Emmet Sheehan, all those guys, it would be fun. It would be great.

Q. What if I told you this Spring Training that you would lose all those guys between then and now? Did you know you had enough depth to still do this?

DAVE ROBERTS: Did I know? No, I didn't. To be quite honest, I didn't know who Ben Casparius was at the start of the season. So to that point -- and Edgardo Henriquez who pitched big innings for us in the DS and CS. I didn't know those guys, so I would say probably not.

Q. And you didn't have Jack Flaherty either. And when you think about the moves you made at the deadline with Flaherty and Edman and Kopech, did you know at that time that they'd end up having the impact they've had? And what was your initial reaction to getting those guys?

DAVE ROBERTS: I did know they would have this impact, and they just made complete sense for our roster. Miggy was going through some things physically, so to have Tommy be able to be a piece of that made complete sense, the switch bat.

Jack being a veteran kind of really on the come as far as the performance and the history, the experience was an easy sell to kind of stabilize a starting staff that wasn't stable.

Then to have Kopech, a neutral guy with a big arm, just feeling like you can get some more out of him in a different environment.

So, yeah, our front office, Andrew and the guys, they nailed it.

Q. Having three wins tonight, is it the same as three wins against Tampa going into this emotionally, intellectually for you? Is it the same as it was the first time?

DAVE ROBERTS: As far as 2020? You know what, I think -- I don't know. I think it's hard to remember exactly what mind state I was in in that point in a very forgettable game.

I think that right now we're in a good space to finish things off tonight. Certainly some of the same cast of characters, but it's still a different team. Yeah, we're in the bubble. This is kind of -- we're obviously in Yankee Stadium. So it's a little bit different in that sense too.

Q. We've heard -- you said close-knit, we've heard the players say that, cohesive. Give us some insight into these watch parties that you had during the days off between the end of the regular season and the start of the DS. And the same with the World Series and the dinners you guys have had, the team dinners when you've been traveling and how it's brought this team together.

DAVE ROBERTS: You said it. There's the watch parties. They had dinners. They take the same flight. And what it is is it's just -- I think at the crux they've sacrificed time with their loved ones to be together, which has made this team more together, closer.

So that's what they've done on their own, and they've just bonded. It's really cool to see, yeah.

Q. Over the years it seemed like your offense has kind of thrived when it comes to facing bullpens, especially seeing them over the course of a series and starting to take advantage of that. I think you guys have only scored one run off their bullpen since Game 1. Is there anything you've seen in the guys' at-bats or how they kind of game planned against you guys as a bullpen?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's a fair question. I think we've done a really nice job with the starters. Unfortunately, with the pen, I just don't think that we're -- we're certainly not having the best at-bats. I think that there's a lot of 3-2 chase. There's a lot of two -- you know, pitcher behind, spin, chase that we could get more count leverage.

I don't know the reason behind it, but typically we are much better -- certainly seeing arms out of the pen we're better. I just see us breaking out tonight, I really do. Obviously Gerrit is a tough customer, but we've got to have good at-bats against him. We've seen a lot of these guys many times.

Q. Max was red hot during the CS. I don't think he has a hit this series. What have you seen out of his at-bats and he obviously a guy that kind of swings things for you lineup. How important is that for you guys going forward?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's important. I think Max is getting a little too quick. I think he's getting a little too jumpy. I think he's in between at times.

He's working on some mechanical things going into tonight's game that I hope will give him some clarity, some confidence. He's not too far away from really performing well, so he just needs to, again, stay in the zone. That's his super power to swing at strikes and take balls. If he can do that, we'll create some stress for Gerrit.

Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Jack facing the Yankees twice in this series?

DAVE ROBERTS: The advantage is he gets to see in realtime how they're responding to his pitches. The disadvantage is they can see and appreciate the ball coming out of his hand and all of his different pitches. So then it just comes down to execution and how you sequence your pitches.

So right now it's sort of an open book, and now it's about execution. I feel the same way, us versus Gerrit Cole.

Q. Following up on the cohesiveness and closeness of the roster, are there particular factors that have contributed to that? And how does it manifest itself when you're on the field?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think that our guys were intentional about spending more time together. I think that with injuries of not giving yourself an out, an excuse not to win 11 games in October, I think was a part of it.

Yeah, I think -- how does it manifest? I just think that when you are around people that you care about, you believe in, you're just better collectively. Yeah, I just think -- I just really believe that. I know it's not tangible, but I believe it is.

Q. Was there kind of an us against the world vibe there at one point with all the guys going down?

DAVE ROBERTS: There still is. We're not done yet. We're still against you, Jim.

(Laughter).

Q. Just further to Flaherty, he was really good against Judge in the first game. What specifically do you think that he did to get those strikeouts?

DAVE ROBERTS: He just mixed. He mixed. He's going to have to throw -- he's going to spin them. He's going to throw his heater. It's just kind of when he does it, when he sequences, it's a cat and mouse.

Aaron knows exactly what he has and Jack knows what he can do to get Aaron out, and he's just got to make the pitches and sequence properly and not be too predictable.

Q. Just want your opinion about Freddie Freeman and the great moment he's living now with the four homers in four consecutive games?

DAVE ROBERTS: He's otherworldly right now. He's as healthy as he's been in quite some time. Even the way he legged out that infield -- that fielder's choice, that double play -- potential double play ball to drive in a run shows his desire. His swing looks great.

He's just such a good example for all of us, even when you're not healthy, just to be out there and post because it matters.

Q. In sports a lot of times, we, meaning mostly sports writers, talk a lot about who got their due. This person got their due, that person really got their due. I'm wondering, in your years as a player, as a manager, if you think about this at all. What's the formula for getting your due and not getting your due? Like Willie Mays clearly got his due, Hank Aaron got his due. Is there like a formula for it? Is it the moment? Is it luck? Is it personality?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's a good question. That's an existential kind of question. I think a little bit of luck, certainly a moment, talent, longevity, respect calls for getting your due.

Yeah, it's all encompassing, but those names, they're pretty special names, and rightfully so they got their due.