Q. You and Kiké have talked about some of the players being in between in their at-bats, like wanting to hammer a fastball but guarding against a breaking pitch. How do you change that, how do you fix that this weekend?
DAVE ROBERTS: You know what? I've been doing a lot of thinking about this. I'm sure our guys too. I think it's more of -- all that being said, intent, mechanics, I think right now, we got to find a way to win one game. And I could dive into my thoughts, but I think at the end of the day, they just have to compete and fight in the batter's box. And it's one-on-one, the hitter versus the pitcher, and that's it. Really. I mean, I think that that sort of mindset is all I'll be looking for and expect good things to happen from that.
Q. Could you see any more lineup changes to try to spark something or is the way you see it, it kind of has to be on those nine guys to get something going?
DAVE ROBERTS: I might change it up a little bit. But, yeah, I'm contemplating, but I'm still kind of up in the air. So it could be a little bit of a change.
Q. You talked yesterday about the possibility of Shohei being available in relief. Could that be as soon as tomorrow, Game 6?
DAVE ROBERTS: You know, we'll see how he comes in tomorrow. But right now, obviously, when you're facing elimination, then you've got to have those conversations. So whatever it takes for us to win tomorrow. And obviously Yamamoto's going, and then we're going to do whatever we can to put our best foot forward on the run prevention side and then on the creation side in scoring runs too.
Q. And this is a hypothetical since you would have to get to a Game 7, but if you get there, you don't use him tomorrow, to kind of, I guess better use the two-way rule with him, would you consider using him as an opener instead of in relief?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think we would consider everything. And it's more of just kind of doing whatever we can to get through tomorrow and then pick up the pieces and then see what's the best way to attack a potential Game 7. So everything should be on the table and will be, for sure.
Q. With everything you guys have gone through this year with the injuries, the pitching problems, on your way out here, do you ever think, hey, it's supposed to wind up this way, it wasn't supposed to be easy, this is only natural?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, absolutely. I think that I'm in good spirits, our coaches are. What better way to win the World Series, in Game 7. But we got to win tomorrow. And the thing that's encouraging for me is I know I gave our players an option to not workout today because of the long series and 18 innings and travel and all that stuff, and not one guy took the option. So that was pretty exciting for me and just speaks to where these guys are at, that they realize that the job's not done, and we're going to keep going and keep fighting.
Q. You touched on mindset a little bit, so I was wondering, what do you think the right way to approach a back-against-the-wall situation is? Do you need to have that little extra fight with the season on the line, or do you want to keep it not too high, not too low, play the same game as always?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think elimination games, which we've had a lot of experience with, is all mindset. I really do. It's fight or flight, it's whatever adage or saying you want to kind of come, leave it all out there. It's certainly not war. I'm not trying to compare that to war. But in our world, in our small world of baseball, it is war. So that's the mindset -- for me, it's all mindset.
Q. Freddie was talking about it last night, just kind of going back to 2024, in which the NLDS forcing a Game 4 and then forcing a Game 5 against the Padres. When you think about just what you guys learned from that one, is there something that either you see in this team that maybe was similar to kind of how you guys were able to fight back in that series to win it to of course move on, or what stands out to you about that moment that you can take into tomorrow?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think in that moment and other moments like that, the urgency of every play. I think that that's something that we've -- we're in a position right now we don't have any margin, and so with that, everything is going to be heightened. So I think that the extra focus that we need to have will be there tomorrow night. So that's something that's a takeaway for me in some of these elimination games.
Q. Back to Shohei, I would like to make sure, so you haven't discussed about pitching with him yet.
DAVE ROBERTS: Not yet. We're going to talk about that today when we're out on the field.
Q. Looking back and trying to figure out some of the causes of the hitting struggles, do you think just the format and the week layoff the batters had between games was disruptive from the routine?
DAVE ROBERTS: I don't think so. I don't think so. Even if it was, I wouldn't say it was.
Q. Can you talk about, when did you guys arrive here, when did you the plane land?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think the players got here maybe at like 7:00 a.m., something like that, and then we arrived probably about an hour ago, the coaches.
Q. I guess everybody was sleeping on that flight then?
DAVE ROBERTS: Oh, yeah. But they're ready. They're all ready.
Q. One more thing about Shohei. You said everything is on the table, but using him as a reliever the risk is you might lose a DH spot, so I'm just curious, have you ever talked to Shohei about playing actually the outfield potentially?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, we'll talk about everything. So we'll kind of talk through whatever is the best. Like I said before, if we get to that point, we'll see. But he's not going to play the outfield tomorrow, I do know that. But if we get to Game 7, we'll have a good discussion about everything.
Q. Wondering, what was the thought process in having the players go right after the game and the staff going the next day?
DAVE ROBERTS: That's just more player driven. They like to get to the cities and kind of get situated.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports