Q. Andrew, I was wondering what you knew about Christian Yelich before you came here and what you've experienced in terms of what he's done for this team on the field and what he means to it off.
ANDREW VAUGHN: Yeah, I think being from the outside, I was with the White Sox for several years. Playing against him, he's a tough out. He's just a ballplayer. All around, just look at the years he's had here even before Miami. Just special.
Q. Yelly, a lot has been made and will continue to be made about the last few years in the playoffs for you guys. Do you feel like there's anything different about this team?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: There's a lot of different players. A lot of different players over the years. They're all different teams, so I don't really think any past outcome has any indication of how this year can go. It's the postseason, and anything can happen in a short series in those kind of games. We definitely had our opportunities. We haven't always capitalized on them. We did one year when we were able to kind of make a little bit of a deeper run.
Postseason games are often decided by a couple plays here and there, and they're all going to be competitive games, tight knit, and hopefully we can do what we need to do to come out on top.
Q. The players were talking about -- your team has talked about an intense week of practice, practicing with intent. How did you do that?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, I think we just did baseball stuff and understand that being able to execute the game and the fundamentals of the game and just doing what we need to do to make sure that we play as clean as possible.
That's really what it was. It wasn't anything crazy. It was just refresher and making sure that we knew what we needed to do, clean some stuff up. It was nice to have a few days to kind of get everybody's bodies rested up a little bit and just kind of hang out and do some baseball activity.
Q. Andrew, you've been a rival of the Cubs for two different teams. Is it any more exciting to play this series against your arch rivals or is it just another series for you?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, I mean, I think it's the postseason, so it's not like anybody is going to want to win any more or less because we're playing a division opponent. I think obviously the familiarity is there, but the stakes are the same.
It didn't matter if we were playing the Cubs or the Padres. You still want to win to advance to the next round.
It's two passionate fan bases that are pretty familiar with each other over the years, and we've had some big games against each other, and surprising that we haven't really met in the postseason before, but I kind of had a feeling this would shape up this way at some point this season.
Look, they're a great team. We're a good team. We played each other really close throughout the season. I'd anticipate a lot of the same here in the postseason, and it will be a fun week for sure. It'll be a great atmosphere and two fun environments, when we're here and when we're at Wrigley.
ANDREW VAUGHN: Yeah, I was going to say pretty much the same thing. The atmosphere is going to be crazy. You've got to think about it's only an hour difference of a drive for both fan bases, so it's going to be exciting. It's going to be rowdy. It's going to be really good baseball.
Q. Christian, you mentioned all the aspects of the rivalry. The one difference the last couple years has been Craig managing the Cubs after having managed the Brewers. What's it been like facing him in the past, and how different will it be now with the postseason?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: It'll be fine. A lot of our team, probably half of our guys, maybe more than half, didn't play for Couns. There's only a few guys left.
It's still baseball. Managers put players in positions that they think they're going to be successful in, and that's it. It's not like it's different than other sports. It's not like Couns has exotic blitz packages or has a good play action pass game or anything like that that's going to make it difficult on us.
I have a lot of respect for him. I think he's great at what he does. But we're not going to have to worry about the two high safety look from Couns. (Laughter).
Q. At what point in your time here did you recognize that young players looked up to you and there was a responsibility that came with that?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: I don't know. We have a lot of young players. We have a lot of young guys on our team. If you want to be successful, you're going to need to count on them and make sure that they're successful as well.
I don't think it was any conscious decision to do that. It was just trying to be a good teammate and wanting our team to be successful and them to be successful in their careers. It's a byproduct of playing here in Milwaukee that you're going to have to rely on a lot of young players, and they're a huge reason why we're in the position we're in, because of their contributions this year and seeing them all grow a lot throughout the season and the last couple years.
Q. For Yelly, how annoying and how impactful is it to have so many cub fans up here during the season and now potentially during the playoffs? Does that have an impact?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: I don't think so. I mean, I think we're focused on the game. Who the people are rooting for in the stands is not really our concern. We're kind of worried about what's going on on the field and making sure that we're doing what we need to do, that our team is successful.
Obviously the proximity of the two fan bases, there will be mixed crowds, I'm sure. In my opinion it's just going to add to the atmosphere. But I don't think it's annoying at all or doesn't really affect our team. We're worried about performing well on the field and making sure that we're doing our jobs.
Q. Christian, any major differences in Murph year one to year two managing the team that you can notice or that you've noticed?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: Not really. He's been the same guy since he was the bench coach. He's Murph. People that are around him all the time know what that means. He has his way of going about things and doing things and managing the game and players. I think the last two years he's done a great job, and he's been the same.
As a player, you know what you're going to get from him and what he expects and how it's going to be. You're never really left wondering what he's thinking because he's going to tell you whether you like it or not.
Q. Along those lines, Christian, the difference between Murph and Craig, was there an adjustment period? Obviously you knew both of them. You knew Murph going into it. Were there noticeable differences? Are there noticeable differences in just their day-to-day style?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: They're different personalities. I think when Couns was here, they were a good complement of each other. Couns is pretty cerebral about the game and more reserved, calm demeanor, and Murph is going to tell you exactly what he's thinking and feeling at the time.
He's not going to -- he's not always going to say the thing that's politically correct or that's overly concerned about how people feel about it. That's just who they are. They're both successful in their own ways. People are different, managers are different, and obviously we're both playing each other, so they both do a great job at what they do.
Q. Andrew, what are some of the advantages and possible disadvantages to having a bye week?
ANDREW VAUGHN: I guess you could say, like people think, oh, you're not playing for three, four, five days, whatever it might be. Like we talked about earlier, we had some pretty intense practices, live scrimmages based on live arms just to stay ready.
We've got to take advantage we're given. Like getting the bye is really special, but those three, four days are really critical. Button up some plays, tighten up the defense, just work on those things, and I think we took advantage of that.
Q. Andrew, I think I asked you this before when I saw you last game. You were a Clemente Award nominee with the White Sox. Curious how you've translated that over to Milwaukee and how you've found the community to look for causes that are close to you?
ANDREW VAUGHN: We haven't really dove in yet. The trade was crazy. Me and my wife definitely look forward to doing stuff within the city. It's a great city. It's been awesome to us. Definitely look forward to it.
Q. Christian, over the years how have you kept your emotions in check but not become too emotional in bigger moments and just become the leader that you are?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: I just think that's the game of baseball. You've got to have -- you've got to be steady, especially in the postseason, because there's a lot of different swings of emotion and momentum. You don't want to ride the highs too high during the game.
If you get behind early in these games, you don't want to get too low, either. You've got to just keep playing the game.
That's true over the course of a season, but especially in the postseason. It's just big momentum swings and the game changes quick. You can be 0 for the entire series in October, but if you get the one big hit at the end, then that's all people remember and all people care about. And that's why as players you have to just keep going. You've got to keep going in October and play to the bell.
Like I said, I can be the guy that's punched out every at-bat for the entire series, but if you come up in that one big spot and deliver, you can kind of change everything.
You've got to keep that in mind during these series. And look, it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a great week, and this is what you play for, these exciting games. Really looking forward to it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports