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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 3, 2013Max ScherzerOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Max. Q. Last year of course it was Justin Verlander who was the ace for the Tigers, and this year it's you. Any pressure being the Game 1 starter? MAX SCHERZER: No, not at all, I'm excited. This is what you work so hard for, this is what you do to be in this spot. The regular season is over and it's time to go out there and play baseball and try and play our best. Q. Max, what was going on with you this season that you stepped up and had such a great year? MAX SCHERZER: I thought the development of my curveball allowed me to be more effective this year. For me I've always struggled against left‑handed hitters and I thought adding the curveball to my mix would make me a better pitcher. And the more I've gotten a feel for it, it gives me the ability to throw three different pitches to left handers, and because of that, that's why I feel I've had more success this year. Q. Max, in late Augustthe A's came into Detroit and had their way with your pitching staff. Can you talk about their lineup, is it a more challenging lineup than you faced last year? What happened in late August? MAX SCHERZER: Late Augustthey came into Comerica and whipped us, that shows you what a good team they are. They have a lot of different ways to beat you. They have good hitting, good pitching and they're a good ball club. We know it's going to be a challenge for us offensively if we're going to go ahead and beat them this series. Q. How much does it help having been in the postseason before for yourself when you get to this spot? MAX SCHERZER: Not really, not too much. It's stale baseball. For me, it's more about where my stuff's at, where my health is at, all the other things. The experience for me doesn't really resonate with me. I'm going to go out there and pitch as well as I can. I know I did that in my first postseason experience and I had a lot of success. I figure if I go out there with the same mentality of believing in myself and the teammates around me, hopefully we can put together another postseason run. Q. Max, there was some conversation after that series in Detroit about maybe the A's hitters had a sense of what was coming. I'm not sure where it started or if it ended, but how do you feel like that now? MAX SCHERZER: It felt like it! (Laughter.) It's just one of those things. That's baseball. Like I said, they're a quality team and they were hot and they beat us. But at the same time, hopefully we can be better this time, and hopefully we can learn from that and be better than them this time. Q. Max, I know if you lose the series in four or you lose the series in seven, you still don't win the World Series, but I'm just wondering if the way it happened last year motivated the team. Was there any discussion about that in your initial meetings or in Spring Training as the season went along about how the season ended last year? MAX SCHERZER: No, not at all. Everybody wants to be extremely disappointed in that, but I think we embraced how far we did get. It's not an easy task to get to the World Series and be the best team in the American League. And obviously we were able to do that last year. Sometimes when you get in four‑game stretches baseball can do funny things and not to take anything away from the Giants, but they beat us. That's the way it goes. We're major league baseball players, we're talented, we know what we're capable of and we're confident if we go out there and play our game, we can compete with any team in the major leagues. So hopefully, we can play our best baseball and hopefully we come out victorious. Q. What were your impressions of the crowds here last year and are you aware of the strange stuff that's happened this year with the building and things like that? MAX SCHERZER: I've heard the plumbing here isn't quite up to standard. (Chuckles.) I'm hearing the birds chirp on that. This is one of the rowdiest baseball experiences I've ever been a part of. The fans here go absolutely nuts from the first pitch to the last, and that's just something you got to deal with. The crowd noise is going to be loud. If I'm not mistaken they're adding more people in this year, so it's just going to be an unbelievable baseball experience, something I'll never forget. Q. What's it feel like to pitch in Game 1, particularly since Justin Verlander has been your number one guy over the last couple of seasons? MAX SCHERZER: Just means I'm pitching Game 1. That's it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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