Q. Obviously some big decisions with Max and Chris being left off the postseason roster. Just wondering your reaction to that and how you guys are lined up, the pitching for this series?
GEORGE SPRINGER: Yeah, I think ultimately those two guys are a huge part of our team and have been all year round. I'm not in those decisions. I'm not out there trying to figure it out. But I know those guys will be ready if asked to be.
Q. And you guys had to get used to playing without Bo for a few weeks now. What are some of the factors you think have allowed you to manage through that now, and what have you had to do to manage without him in the series?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I think it just kind of feeds into who we are as a team. It's next man up. Unfortunately for us, he's been such an integral part of this team this whole year. Without Bo we probably wouldn't be in this position. To know that he's hurting on the inside, he wants to play just as bad as everybody here wants him to play is tough.
I hope in the next few weeks he'll be able to contribute.
Q. As one of the guys with a lot of postseason experience, what kind of role have you taken on this week and leading into today before this game?
GEORGE SPRINGER: The same as it's been all year, the old guy role. Just try to do as much as I can to help anybody who has a question or wants to know something. At the end of the day, man, it's the same game. Just go play, enjoy the moment. I don't think the moment gets lost on anybody, but just go have fun.
Q. Kevin was here yesterday just talking about how tight-knit this group is. Can you talk a little bit about that? He said guys hang out a lot outside of the ballpark.
GEORGE SPRINGER: I think any time you can kind of do things together as a team, hang out together, whether that's in the hotel, at a house, on the road, at the park, it's good for on the field. And I've sensed that all year. Guys are showing up to the park a little bit earlier, staying a little longer. There were some wives who were getting angry at guys who were hanging around a little bit too long, but it's okay.
I think all that stuff in a season, it makes your time away from your actual family fun.
Q. I see you guys are wearing the white panel caps. How superstitious are you?
GEORGE SPRINGER: This hat was hanging in my locker, so it's the hat I'm going to wear. I don't make that decision. I know we busted these hats out a few games ago, I believe, and here they are again.
Q. You've been around a lot of rookies who have come up and had to pitch big games. What have you kind of gleaned from Trey Yesavage over the last couple of weeks that makes him prepared for a big start tomorrow?
GEORGE SPRINGER: With Trey, it's cool. He seems unfazed by a lot of things. I think he's outwardly calm, and I think that perception for him, it does a lot for us. You would expect somebody to appear nervous, but he doesn't. And I think that just shows who he is as a player, who he is as a human being.
With that being said, that doesn't mean he's not, but he's done an unbelievable job his first three, four starts, at just kind of being in the moment, being locked in.
Q. Daulton Varsho was talking about your ability to flush a game after it's finished and clear your head and kind of put it behind you. How are you able to do that, and how has it served you well?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I don't know. I just think kind of once the game's over, the game's over. You can't dwell on the good. Obviously you shouldn't dwell on the bad because there is another game tomorrow. I have a job to do.
For me, I just kind of lean into the fact that every day is a new day. Whether I get the job done or not, hopefully there's another moment to kind of dive into the next day. So I've got to be able to be clearheaded and ready to roll.
Q. At this point in your career when you approach the playoffs, compare it to your early days in Houston, do you approach this or appreciate it any differently? Has anything changed for you, how you look at these opportunities?
GEORGE SPRINGER: Yeah, I don't take this for granted. I didn't back then, and I won't now. I think the few times we haven't been in this position, you learn how hard it is to do and how much fun it is to do. You want to be a part of this moment, and you kind of yearn for that all year.
When you're not a part of it, you kind of watch the other teams celebrate or watch the other teams play, and you're like, man, I really want to be there and enjoy that. To do it with this group of guys who has really stuck together since Spring Training, it's special. Obviously we have a long way to go and it starts today.
But just to be here and be one of four American League teams left playing is a huge honor for us, and it's one that I know that clubhouse does not take lightly.
Q. Aside from it starting today a week later than it has in the past, does this feel any different than the '22 and '23 playoff teams?
GEORGE SPRINGER: Well, hopefully. I think being in this position and not having to play in the Wild Card round has showed us how far we've come as a team, has shown us who we are as a team. This last week, just watching everybody go about their work and prepare has been awesome.
Again, still a long way to go. It starts at 4:08 today, but I couldn't be more proud of the guys in that locker room.
Q. It feels like in every playoff year, every playoff series, someone emerges, whether it was you in the World Series that year, but this team has always been on message with it's a new guy every day and it's always somebody else. Do you think that in the playoffs somebody has to take the reins, or can it work with everyone throwing in?
GEORGE SPRINGER: I think it can be both. I think there's guys in the past, there's guys now who have put the whole organization on their back and let it ride, and there are times when it takes every single guy in that locker room. I don't think there's a singular human who can propel a team to win every single game. I think it takes everybody. But I think there's individual moments throughout the course of a game that contribute to the success of a team.
For us as a team, I don't think anybody thinks about that. I don't think anybody cares about that. It's about the name on the front and not the name on the back.
Q. You've been around Vlad for a few years now. What sort of growth have you seen in him in that time, and how would you describe your relationship with him as a teammate?
GEORGE SPRINGER: One, I love the guy. He's an unbelievable human, a great player, great teammate. He does so much for us on and off the field. I think any time you get a chance to be around Vlady, you have a fun moment.
He's a guy that does not take anything for granted. He genuinely loves being a Toronto Blue Jay, loves to be here, loves the country, loves his family, the fans.
When you sit there and you talk to him about it and you can kind of get him away from just the game itself, he has a genuine admiration for kind of everything. It's hard not to respect a guy like that who wants to win so bad but doesn't want to win for himself, he wants to win for other people. I respect that as far as I can go.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports