Q. I looked back at the season and it kind of started with spring training eight and a half months ago now. Do you look at it as one season or has it kind of been like two or three at this point?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: One, to be honest with you, you know. I think that whenever you start a spring training, this is kind of where you want to end up. It doesn't always happen, so you have to appreciate it. But, yeah, man this is the story of the 2025 Blue Jays. Pretty cool.
Q. When you're in the middle of things that are happening live, George hitting the home run, Yesavage doing what he did last night, these incredible maybe for the ages kind of baseball moments, are you able to sort of be part of what the history of it is, or are you too busy managing to appreciate all that's going on?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: A little bit of both, but much more so kind of in the moment with what you're doing. Those two particular moments, I appreciated the magnitude of George's swing in Game 7 for a few seconds and with a few players in the dugout. And then Trey, it was kind of like a slow drip over seven innings. So I mean, I just I remember at one point I said to Pete, I said, How many strikeouts is that? And he was at 10. Because you kind of lose track of that a little bit when you're following along in the order and things like that, all right? Who is coming up next.
But, man, there were some funny adjectives between myself and Pete after a lot of those pitches that Trey threw that were in the zone and then out of the zone. So it was fun to watch, but I think that you're a little bit more in the moment of managing than you are kind of being a fan.
Q. Last night he struck out every batter. It's only happened twice before in World Series history, and the two people are Bob Gibson and Randy Johnson.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, those are okay names to be a part of. I saw that last night too. That's pretty impressive.
Q. How close did George get to starting yesterday's game?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: He was right on the fence. I think he probably could have. I was really juggling what's best for him, what's best for the team, not just immediately to start the game, but kind of how that game may unfold too. He was close. He was close, and he was ready to come in, and I'm glad we didn't need him and got him an extra couple days, but hopefully he's good to go tomorrow.
Q. What's your kind of expectation for Game 6, what kind of boxes does he still have to check?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Not many, to be honest with you. I think just making sure he feels comfortable and confident tomorrow, and not just for one at-bat, to go in and compete and kind of get locked into a game. He's kind of checked every box physically so far, so see how tomorrow goes.
Q. Day later, just as you are thinking back to some of the things that Trey did that played out yesterday, what are some of the things that you'll really remember from Trey's day yesterday?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's going to sound funny. The initial comebacker that he kind of bobbled and then the way he flipped it to Vlad kind of showed me he was where he should be mentally and didn't panic. The double play to end the 7th, obviously. I'll remember that. The number of pitches he threw. I'll remember that. That's a new high mark for him.
But I think just striking out four or five in a row. When he got into a rhythm there, it was fun to watch. Those are the things that jump out. There was a lot of quality pitches. There was some big, big strikeouts. Striking out -- I believe it was Alex Call to not get Ohtani up to the plate. He kind of avoided some dangerous areas too. So like I said last night, I was kind of in awe of a lot of what he did.
Q. And Davis was saying there wasn't a lot of sleep on the plane last night coming home. Wondering what the vibe is on a flight like that, knowing there's an off day, but just understanding that the next game you play you can clinch a World Series title?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, the vibe was exactly how it always is coming home with an off day. Again, I was impressed -- kind of walking through the clubhouse after I got done talking to you guys -- there was obviously just more people in the clubhouse than a regular season, but I was impressed with just kind of the back-and-forth that was happening and the not getting too high and kind of getting ready to get on a bus and get on a plane and come back here and get ready to play.
So the vibe was good, but it was nothing different than what it usually has been this season. I actually texted my wife. She said, Hey, how are you doing? And said, Are you having fun? And I said, I'm actually kind of calm, which is weird. After three days like that and an 18-inning game, I felt pretty calm. It was just like, all right, put on your headphones, watch a movie, have a beer, and kind of just chill. So it was a normal plane ride.
Q. What did you watch?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: What did I watch yesterday? I go back and forth. Yesterday was Den of Thieves, a good bank robber movie from L.A. So that was kind of in the queue.
Q. I'm wondering how you're feeling being back at Rogers Centre with a chance of winning it all tomorrow, hopefully. How does it feel to be welcomed by a hometown crowd tomorrow?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It feels great. I can't wait. For one, it's nice to be back here and sleep in your own bed. I can't wait to see what this place is like tomorrow. Watching it on video from across the country with the people here watching, I've never seen anything like that. I've never seen a watch party like that.
So I'm just excited as hell to see what this place is like tomorrow. The guys are too. They're talking about it as well. We can't wait. You kind of want the game to start right now. But it should be fun.
Q. One other question about Kevin Gausman starting tomorrow. Obviously, we saw how well Trey did yesterday. We know Gausman's a great pitcher. What are you thinking about putting him on Game 6 tomorrow going up against Yamamoto?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It should be a fun rematch. I think Kev's outing kind of got overlooked because Yamamoto was so good in Game 2. Kev kind of matched him pitch for pitch there until the 7th. You kind of think of it as, like, an old school pitchers' duel about to happen, but you never know how it's going to unfold. But we've got all the confidence in the world in Kev. He's kind of been our guy for the last couple years. So he's pitched in big games before, postseason, regular season, he's always consistent, love handing him the ball tomorrow.
Q. So you got back to the ballpark about 8:00 a.m. Do you fall right asleep or are you too wired to fall asleep?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: No. No, I hung here. I was waiting for my wife and kids. They were, like, a half hour behind us. So dropped off my bags. I actually happened in the cold tub, a little cold plunge to kind of get you going a little bit. It didn't work. But, no, waited for them and then drove home and then it was pretty quick to bed after that.
Q. Looking at your team, there's a lot of players with open personalities and Addison and Davis. You've been around a lot of years. Does this have more of it or is just winning breeds?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think winning allows you guys to talk to 'em more. There's characters on every team every single year. That's the beauty of a Major League clubhouse. But I think that this team is unique and special in its own way, but definitely how close they are.
Q. What are some of -- one or two things that Davis and Addison have done that have left you shaking your head?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I'm not going there. There's been plenty, but that's why they say the clubhouse is a sacred place.
Q. Looking back at last night, Blake Snell said that your lineup didn't really get to him, and that he kind of got unlucky. Do you have any reaction to that?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: No. I thought Schneid does what he is good at, Vladimir is one of the best players in the game, and I thought we really made him work. He's a great pitcher. I'm worried about tomorrow, Game 6 here. Yamamoto's an even tougher task. So we led the league in hitting this year. I don't think we're too bad.
Q. That was going to be my next question, is: Yamamoto, how do you get to him coming off back-to-back complete games?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Man, hopefully he's a little tired, throwing that many innings. He's unique because he's got what seems like six or seven pitches, and can kind of morph into different pitchers as the game kind of goes on. You got to be stubborn, you have to be ready to hit, and you have to be stubborn with what kind of swings you're taking, that's what it comes down to. He's not a guy you can kind of wait out. He's going to pound the zone, so sometimes you got to force some action on him, if he's going really well. I think having seen him will help us. We hadn't seen him in the regular season. We'll get some feedback from the guys and formulate a plan with Pop and Lou and Hunter and get after it.
Q. On Yamamoto, was there a lot to learn from just that one start? Like are there a lot of takeaways from that that you can take into tomorrow?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think it's always easier when you actually see a guy and kind of feel what his stuff is playing like, and kind of what it does in comparison to other guys you've faced. The delivery is a little unique, obviously, and there's some deception there, but that's about it. It comes down to putting together a good plan, and kind of seeing how he's going to attack. Is it going to be the same way, which he had a lot of success with, or is he going to deviate a little bit, and can we be ready to kind of pivot with him.
Q. Ohtani was obviously amazing in Game 3, but the last two games you guys are actually doing a very good job neutralizing him. What are you guys trying and what's going well?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think just locating better. Again, man, he's hit some pitches that weren't terrible; hit 'em for doubles, hit 'em for homers. I just think we're locating better and kind of giving him different looks, different pitch types, different velocities, different locations. You kind of, you're always aware of when he's coming up, and I think that we've done a good job the last two games of just putting the ball where we want to and pitching to some weak contact.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports