Padres 3, Cubs 0
Q. I know it was big to you, not just to perform today, to give your team a chance to win, but maybe the way the postseason has gone, the way the season has gone, what did this mean to you today?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, it means a lot. At the end of the day, it was do or die, and none of us want to go home.
Q. Is it possible that you were maybe as sharp as you've been, since when?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, I was definitely pretty sharp. I mean, in some ways you could argue that was probably one of my sharpest, if not my sharpest, of the year. Yeah, it was definitely solid.
Q. Dylan, last we saw you on the south side, your fastball was 95.6 for the season. Today you're up to 99.7. Is it a matter of just because you're only going to pitch four innings or are you a different kind of pitcher than you were two years ago?
DYLAN CEASE: I mean, I was throwing pretty similar then. Probably a little bit has to do with playoffs and everything being on the line. I don't know. It's pretty similar, to be honest.
Q. How do you look -- you guys have been here before. As Mike said yesterday, how do you look at it as a winner-take-all situation for the team tomorrow for Game 3?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, we've got to do it again. We showed we can do it today. I think we feel good. Obviously it's going to be a big challenge, but I feel like we've ready and we're excited for it.
Q. Obviously we saw Manny get real fired up after the home run, saw Fernando get fired up after making that catch in right field. What was the energy like for you guys today with everything on the line?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, I think we played with an edge for sure. We played with energy. At the end of the day, we played really clean baseball, and that's what it takes to win at this time of year.
Q. Is this about what you expected in terms of number of pitches or what was your expectation going in?
DYLAN CEASE: I didn't necessarily have an expectation. I kind of visualized myself going deep and giving us a chance to win. But at the end of the day, I really, like I said, just wanted to give us a chance to win, and that's all that really matters.
Q. You've been fairly positive about the progress that you've made, even when the results maybe -- was there anything today, or is this a culmination of you having been improving?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, I feel like I've been improving. It was definitely a bit of a rough year, but I think the biggest thing is to not let it kind of keep seeping into future starts.
No matter how my previous ones go, I always just try to visualize positive things and think positive for the next ones.
Q. You said yesterday that you were excited for the playoffs, but you wanted better results than you've had in the past. Now having a game like today, if you guys are fortunate enough to move forward, what sort of confidence does that give you?
DYLAN CEASE: Yeah, it's definitely a big confidence builder. Playoff baseball is different. It's next level of energy, next level of pressure and all of that.
I felt calm and I felt ready for really all my outings in the postseason, but having a little bit of success is definitely a massive confidence booster, and now we've got to get it done tomorrow so I can get another chance.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports