Q. How meaningful was the dent that you guys made in the Dodgers' bullpen last night?
TERRY FRANCONA: It wasn't meaningful enough to win the game, but I'd rather play to the end. And our guys do a good job of that.
If you can tax people, maybe they're not available, maybe their stuff's not the same the next night -- there's a reason always to keep playing. But in a short series, it can help you strategically moving forward.
Q. Is there anything you saw heading back to the hotel last night or this morning that kind of put a smile on your face, thinking, all right, these guys are just going to be fine for tonight?
TERRY FRANCONA: Well, it wasn't that, my middle daughter sent me a picture, and my 11-year-old granddaughter, who is in Boston -- there's three hours' difference -- sat in front of the TV until the last out, and she had a Reds helmet on backwards, she had the Reds jersey on, and she refused to go to bed.
And I remember when I got home, there's some good things. It's hard not to smile.
Q. You've got incredible hitters behind Ohtani obviously, but with how hot he's been, what he did in Game 1 do you ever consider tipping your cap and putting him on base?
TERRY FRANCONA: You're kidding, right? Have you heard of Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman?
Q. Exactly. It would obviously be a tough decision.
TERRY FRANCONA: I think it would be a very poor decision. He's a really dangerous hitter. He's also struck out 185 times this year. That's where we have to get to.
You start walking people in that lineup and you're asking for trouble.
Q. You've seen this team all season long. How long do you think they'll respond tonight in an elimination game?
TERRY FRANCONA: They'll play. They'll go compete and play. That's not a concern. My biggest concern, because it's an elimination game, how far you go with your starter, because normally you'd like to let your starters work through some issues because they can reward you with innings. You get in an elimination game and sometimes you can't let them do that.
So that's probably the biggest source of anxiety for me.
Q. What's your take on the amount of veteran managerial talent that lost their jobs this week and how much you respect all those guys?
TERRY FRANCONA: Oh, boy. You know, that's never a -- I don't care what their ages are, probably because I've been doing this so long and I know how hard it can be, and I know how kind of devastating it can be when you do lose your job -- it's not just you, it's your family, it affects a lot of things -- your heart goes out to people.
Whether you want to beat their brains out when you're playing them or not. Because there's some really good people and there's some really good friends. That's just the nature of our game. It happens. That's not the fun part of it.
Q. There is some discussion about the alignment of the league. -- there was some discussion about the alignment of the Major League, realignment, the notion of realignment. And the commissioner said it might help the postseason more (inaudible) if the alignment of the league you don't have to have a cross country trip on the first round, your fan doesn't need to watch the postseason at 9:00 p.m. Could you share your thought about that?
TERRY FRANCONA: I'll try. You're talking about realignment possibly in the future?
Q. And geographically based.
TERRY FRANCONA: You know what, I don't pay any attention to stuff I can't control. By the time that happens, I'll probably be sitting in my rocking chair.
We're happy to play anywhere. We're young -- I'm not young, but our players are -- we'll fly anywhere to play. We're okay. I won't spend much time thinking about that stuff. If it ever happens, okay.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports