AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 19, 2024

Stephen Vogt

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Yankees 5, Guardians 2

Q. It took everything this year to get to this point. How proud are you of this group?

STEPHEN VOGT: It's hard to say. I'm so proud. Obviously we're hurting. What a game to finish it on. This group of guys worked extremely hard from day one. We believed, and we still believe we can be better. We can be more.

But I couldn't be more proud of what this group accomplished. There's only one team that gets to win the last game of the year, and unfortunately it's not going to be us.

But we accomplished a lot as a group. We got better. We worked extremely hard. I can't thank the guys enough for their hard work and the coaching staff and the support staff for all of the work they put in.

I couldn't be more proud of this group. We just didn't get quite as far as we wanted to.

Q. I don't know if you can pack more dramatic home runs into a three-game span. What is it like to live in those moments?

STEPHEN VOGT: Every emotion, fun, agonizing, everywhere in between. You feel like you played a very good series and walk out of here not winning it. Any one of those games could have gone either way. Just didn't go our way. It was an exciting series to watch. Great games throughout.

Credit to them; they're a phenomenal team, and they've earned their way there.

Q. His final pitch notwithstanding, was that more the Tanner that you expected?

STEPHEN VOGT: Tanner stepped up and was the guy today. He was the No. 1 today. Short rest, gave us five and two-thirds of excellent, excellent pitching. One mistake, and it got hit.

I am so proud of Tanner for stepping up. I'm so proud of him. He wanted to take the ball, short rest, and did his job and then some today. I couldn't be more proud of him.

Q. Did you consider walking Stanton in that situation?

STEPHEN VOGT: No. Tanner was dialed. Tanner had struck him out twice. He had him on the ropes. One mistake, that right there. I trust Tanner on him. The way he was throwing the ball, I would not -- you give me 100 more times, I'm not putting him on right there.

Q. What's the biggest learning experience you learned from your first year being manager?

STEPHEN VOGT: That it's a long season, and every decision you make, learn as much as you can from it, good, bad, indifferent.

Q. With Tanner, from where this year started to where he is now, what may be the biggest thing of growth that you saw from him this year?

STEPHEN VOGT: Just the consistency at which he competed. Tanner early in the year, like we talked about, had some struggles for the first time probably in his life and did it at the Big League level coming off second place Rookie of the Year.

He took it in stride and kept getting better as the year went on. Every time Tanner took the ball, we felt good about it. He said to me before the season even started he wants to be No. 1, and he is.

Q. What did you say to the players after the game?

STEPHEN VOGT: How proud I am. Remember this feeling. Remember this feeling you have right now because there's more left on the table for this group. We know we can accomplish more, but be proud of what we accomplished overall and use this to fuel your offseason.

Q. You live in a world where the line between winning and losing is so thin. How hard is it to not overanalyze certain decisions when you know that one little thing could be just enough or just not enough?

STEPHEN VOGT: The way I do it is I ask myself what's true. You can write a narrative in your head and spin yourself down a negative path and beat yourself up and second-guess and go back, but what's true is you made what you thought was the best decision in the moment and then you leave it behind.

I have a mentor of mine that says learn the lesson, leave the event. You leave the event behind and you learn everything you can from it, and there's no going back. Everybody makes mistakes. Everyone makes good decisions, bad decisions, or they just didn't work. For me, it's learn the lesson, leave the event.

Q. Rocchio just tried to do a little too much there?

STEPHEN VOGT: I don't know. I didn't see it. It just looked like it just tipped off the top of his glove.

Q. First year in Cleveland; can you elaborate on how you have felt embraced or loved by the city?

STEPHEN VOGT: Our fans were outstanding this year. We packed this place all year. They showed up. They supported us. Everywhere you go around town, there are Guardian shirts, hats, sweatshirts, flags on houses.

This city loves their sports teams. That was really cool for me to learn over the course of this first year is how dedicated, loyal, and I'm thankful they embraced it, first-time manager taking over for a legend, and I couldn't be more thankful.

Q. You talked before about Clase. How do you think he responded and was there any thought of him going back out there?

STEPHEN VOGT: He responded the way I thought he would. This is the best closer on the planet. I'll stand by that. The year he had, who he is, you're not letting anyone else take the ninth inning.

You want to take him back out there, but he had thrown 60 pitches over the last three days, and had we won tonight, we had two more games to go. You can't overextend these guys. You can't have them throw 75, 80 pitches in three days. That is not right.

Hunter has been phenomenal all year. I will give any of those guys in the bullpen the ball any time, any place, anywhere. Some of the best hitters in the world got us in this series and that's true.

Q. What's your thoughts on Hunter's transformation going from a starter last year transforming into the reliever that you had for your 2024 season?

STEPHEN VOGT: All the credit goes to him. He trained all winter as a starter. He trained all winter to be in the rotation. We have a couple injuries, and he says I'll go to the bullpen. And he turns himself into probably one of the top setup men in baseball this year.

All of our bullpen guys deserve a ton of credit for the season we had and where we are. I can't wait to see him again next year.

Q. I know we've asked you so many times this year about this bullpen, but to think where you started this year, not really knowing who was going to be where, what you watched all season long, now that you can start to reflect a little bit more, how did it happen and how impressive was it?

STEPHEN VOGT: I don't know how it happened, other than these guys are special, and Carl Willis, Joe Torres and Brad Goldberg are superstars. They helped these guys learn how to be relievers and they helped them get their stuff under control and be consistent every single night, and what they did individually to step up and take the ball for this team, what seemed like every single day, all of them threw, and they carried us here.

If it wasn't for that group of guys in the bullpen, we wouldn't have got this far in the season. They deserve a ton of credit for that.