MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 29, 2024

Gerrit Cole

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Pregame 4 Press Conference

Q. Gerrit, clearly it's win or go home for you guys today. What's the feeling like in that clubhouse right now?

GERRIT COLE: I think it's just -- it's a focused feel. We know what's at stake, and guys are just going about their routine getting ready to go.

Q. Aaron Judge, we've heard so many stories about the way he lifts guys up in the clubhouse and makes guys feel so welcome. When he's going through some struggles here, what's your message to him as one of the fellow leaders on this team? Do you take it upon yourself to say anything or try and support him in that way?

GERRIT COLE: I just make sure that he knows I'm there for him. If he feels like he needs to bounce something off. Then really just supporting him during the game, just like anybody else. Tough at-bat, you let him know, hey, we're with you every pitch there, whether it's a pat on the butt or pat on the shoulder.

Sometimes it's less about what you say and more about the feeling of togetherness that you can create.

Q. How is your preparation for a game that you're not sure you're going to actually start?

GERRIT COLE: Well, I just assume I'm going to start it, so yeah.

Q. What could you tell to the fans that are of course a little heartbroken right now about the game tonight?

GERRIT COLE: Well, we're getting ready to go right now. Obviously we're in a tough position, but there's a lot of baseball left to be played and anything can happen.

We're excited to get back out there. Hey, we're still in the World Series. Hey, we're in the Bronx. We've still got a shot at this thing. We're just looking to try to play a little bit better and really attack the opposition from the first pitch tonight.

Q. With you guys down 3-0, how much, if any, conversation was there about you coming and pitching tonight on short rest?

GERRIT COLE: I didn't have any conversations.

Q. When the guys are talking about each other, what are some of the more uplifting things you've tried to tell each other that someone said that stand out?

GERRIT COLE: I think we try to just remind ourselves that anything can happen. We've been telling ourselves a lot, really whether we're up or down, there's a lot of baseball left. Just to try to keep us in the zone in the moment, focused, regardless of what the results are dictating. So there's a lot of that.

Like I said earlier, sometimes just a smile. Sometimes it's just putting your arm around somebody. But we know we've got to get after the ball. So we're also pumping ourselves up, getting ready to go, talking like ballplayers like we always do, getting ourselves ready for the first pitch.

Q. You're all creatures of routine for 7 1/2 months, and there's a similarity to every day. Do the circumstances now make it harder, or does the comfort with the routine just push you through it?

GERRIT COLE: It's an interesting thought. I think once you start your process of the day, you settle back into that routine for sure.

Q. The way the Dodgers are utilizing their bullpen in the postseason, it's unique. As a pitcher, what sort of challenge do you think that poses for the Yankees the way the Dodgers are deploying their bullpen?

GERRIT COLE: The first thing that jumps to mind is how talented the group is really. I mean, the strategy from my perspective would be to limit the amount of looks that certain hitters get at certain pitchers, play matchups, whatever, in your favor. I think the cherry on top is they really have a lot of good options.

There doesn't seem to be a real weak spot in their approach because of the talent that they have.

Q. Do you think that the grand slam in Game 1 hit you guys so hard that you haven't been able to come back up from it?

GERRIT COLE: Not necessarily. We probably would have liked to have created more opportunities to score since then along the way, but we were a base hit away from tying the game and getting back into the game in Game 2.

Last night I think -- I mean, it's the World Series. You've got to sometimes give credit to your opponent. Walker was on his game and used the two-run lead in the first inning from Freddie's strike again to keep attacking the strike zone and put the pressure on us.

I feel like even though that was historic and a bit of a gut punch in Game 1, it doesn't really affect our motivation going forward. Like we're coming in and we're working and we're being diligent about our process.

We've done a good job of flushing the bad stuff over the course of the year and been resilient and trying to stay even-keeled when things are really going well as well, just not get ahead of ourselves.

I like our process in that regard, and to me it seems that we're following that.

Q. You've spoken plenty about the ways you're able to help the pitchers on your team even when you're not starting. To give one example, Aaron Judge said, when you guys first met each other, you helped him with the scouting report that was on him and talked to him in those ways. In a situation like this when the offense is struggling, are there things that you can say and notice about the way they're being -- attacking or do you feel like you need to stay in your lane?

GERRIT COLE: I think it's delicate. Even though I like to tout my prowess in hitting in the Major Leagues, it's not on par with any of the guys that we have. I'm not an expert on how to hit the ball. Usually I tend to be better at how to not hit the ball.

There are parts of my conversations throughout the year with everybody that the objective is really just not to change that. In no way am I going out of my way to like add to any of the extra voices. I mean, we have a lot of really qualified people who know exactly what they're doing. Sometimes I think, in that regard, saying less instills maybe just a bit more trust in the individual too.

It's not like we're apart and we're not speaking in terms of the team in general, but it is a fine line, like you alluded to. So it's probably about sticking to what you normally do, and maybe sometimes less is more.

Q. No team obviously ever came into this thinking they could be down 0-3. I was just wondering does it take something mentally to put aside the I can't believe we're in this spot and switch gears to we've just got to think about today and focus on the ahead part of it?

GERRIT COLE: I think regardless of the situation, you don't want to be looking ahead, right? So you're in Game 1, certainly you have dreams about winning the World Series, certainly you know the other outcome, losing the World Series. But the challenge is to just focus on Game 1 and try to win that game starting with the first pitch.

While it's human nature to, again, probably still ponder what the outcome of the series will be, the outcome of the series is irrelevant past the first pitch really and truly.

So there's probably a bit of a mental battle, but like Ron alluded to earlier, I think the creature of habit characteristic of players and the routine that we have to get into every single day, that helps you slide back into the mentality of, okay, sure, we have to win four.

Well, guess what, we had to win four going into Game 1. In that respect, things haven't changed that much. So it's one game at a time, one pitch at a time.

Q. Boone had said that with everything that you went through this spring that he didn't view you as an option to come back on short rest. Has that experience made, since you've come back, you guys be any more careful? Just physically, how do you feel right now?

GERRIT COLE: I feel great right now. I'm available whenever the team wants me to pitch. There's nothing preventing me from pitching if the team wants me to pitch.

Q. When you first came back, you had your ups and downs early in the season, and now you're throwing the ball a lot better. You had a great start in Game 1. What is it for you that you feel like you're doing better than you did at the beginning of your season returning from injury, and where are you physically and mentally relative to then?

GERRIT COLE: I think I'm in better shape now. There were some games coming back -- as much as you can prepare to put yourself in a position to pitch in the Major Leagues, once you come back from injury, it just keeps stacking up, right? It's every four days, every five days.

So there's a couple situations where, whether it's the fatigue or not being very, very sharp, that the floor kind of gets -- I just got blown up a couple times. The more stamina, the more familiarity you build with how the league is acting at that point, I think gives you a better opportunity to raise the floor and be more consistent.

There were still moments of brilliance very early, but being able to sustain that or sustain like a high level of quality, sometimes we had a couple bad games. And to be honest, that can happen when you're fully healthy. Like no one is immune from that. Anyway, no one is immune from that.

I feel now like I'm in good shape. I have a reserve while I'm pitching. So if I need to dip into the tank, I can go get it, and then I can go get it again. It's not like a one-time thing.

And then familiarity both with myself and my delivery, how I'm moving, how well I'm concentrating the ball in the areas of the strike zone that I want to get. I'm not missing east and west very rarely anymore. Things are more defined.

Then the ebbs and flows of the season. So jumping into the middle of the season not really having any experience on how the league has evolved over the first four months, now having the experience, having seen how things in the ebbs and flows has gone, I now take that information and apply that with the tools I have at this point.

So I think those things all kind of contribute to just being more consistent day in and day out.