Q. When you guys look at recent history, back in 2024 and the NLDS, you guys found yourselves in a situation in which you were facing elimination. What do you remember about that game, how you guys were able to fight back, win that series, ultimately of course, moving on, winning the World Series? What do you remember about that moment that you guys can apply to tonight?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, execution. I think it all comes down to that. I think we've been playing the whole year through ups and downs and this is not going to be any different. We knew it was not going to be easy. At some point it was going to get tough for us.
Obviously, we've been playing really good throughout this whole postseason. But the season kind of taught us a lot, and I feel like this is a moment where we're going to get all the experience that we got from not just the year, but the experience that a lot of guys in this clubhouse have to kind of face these couple games, and the whole goal is to play again here tomorrow.
Nothing you can do about the past. All you can do about is the present and what you do today to perform, to execute the plan, and to go out there and for every single out, to give everything that you have because, I mean, two more days you're going to be home and you're going to be resting and having a full off-season.
Q. Beyond the need to execute and beyond the talent you guys have in the room, what can you say about, I guess, the mental toughness or the stubbornness of this group that makes you guys such a tough out when you're in a situation like this one?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, I just feel like we have been through a lot in our careers, and everybody knows what they need to do to get back on track. Our offense hasn't been doing what we are supposed to do, but we have total confidence in every single guy. I feel that the most important part is go to the plate and go to a game today without being afraid of failure.
I think a lot of guys are kind of making sure that they're doing the job, and it's not about one guy, it's about nine individuals going with the same plan and trying to attack the other team. Remember it's baseball, the other team is trying to get you out too, and they're trying to win the game.
It's not easy. It's a hard sport, and you get in slumps during the regular season, you get in slumps at any point of your career, in your life, and obviously, right now, I feel like just putting all that aside and just competing for the next two days is going to be really important for us. That's what makes us really tough, competing every single day, and regardless of what the situation is, I think everybody has to just kind of forget about the past and focus on the moment right now.
Q. Yesterday your manager, Dave Roberts, talked about the urgency of every play in an elimination game. Obviously, that's part of the reason why you're getting the start today. But how do you balance the urgency with just playing free.
Playing fun, which is what -- something that you've exemplified throughout your career?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, I think it's just sustain focus on every single pitch. I know it sounds simple and it's not, like, a really good answer, but it's kind of like playing every single pitch, playing every single pitch with everything you have, because you don't know when the opportunity is going to come and the ground ball is going to come my way or the fly ball is going to go to the outfield or the pitcher needs to make a big pitch.
If you wait for that moment to come to you, it's probably going to be too late. I just feel like the concentration and the urgency have to come from being ready for every single pitch. Regardless of what inning it is, if there's runners on base, bases loaded, or the situation of the game, I feel like we have to stay in the game for all the pitches, 27 outs on defense and offense, and I think that's going to be what you guys are going to see from us tonight.
Q. You had the 18-inning game, quick turnaround, stuff like that. A lot of your teammates were mentioning how the off day couldn't come at a better time. Now that you had that off day, how are you guys feeling now?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, I think we feel so much better after, like, resting for kind of a full day, even though we have to travel and change time zones and all that. It's always kind of part of the process, part of what we're doing. But at the end of the day, you got to understand that we've been playing ball for a long time, and we've been -- the Dodgers organization has been doing a lot of great things for baseball, starting last year in Korea, playing all the way until the World Series until the last day of the season I think, like last year we were playing, and then this year we went to Japan and did everything for baseball that we're supposed to do, and then here we are playing in the last game of the season again. So it's been a long journey for the team, for the organization, for every player out here that had the opportunity to do that. It's been really stressful and everybody's mentally tired.
Physically, you can only image how it is. We're not going to do that as an excuse, we're just going to continue to do what we need to do. But at the end of the day, regardless of what the results are, we still have the goal to win the World Series, which has been the goal ever since we got to spring training.
But regardless of what happened, I'm really proud of every guy in this room, in the organization, and I feel like we're going to be feeling really good in two days when we got the opportunity to win this.
Q. When you're not playing baseball, what does Halloween look like for you and your family?
MIGUEL ROJAS: I mean, it's been a couple years doing it with my kids now and it's just, like, getting costumes out with the kids and going around in Miami and asking for candy. But it's been so much better the last two years because they get to do with the kids on the team. They're having a party right now at the hotel, and so they're having a lot of fun. So I'm happy that the last two years they have been doing it on a plane and on a team trip to New York and new in Toronto.
Q. What did you think of the match race between Hyeseong and Dave Roberts last night, and does that do anything break any tension?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Of course it makes you smile and it makes you have a good time. When the head of the group is kind of like -- is loose like that, and he's willing to do anything, that's what it tells everybody, that he will do anything for the team. Even though he got no chance to beat Kim to third base, he tried to do, like, the shortcut. He didn't know that the camera was there. He tripped on the camera and we saw the rest, right?
So it's all over social media on the biggest stage of the year, and right before a Game 6 facing elimination, this guy is, like, on the ground, like, with his uniform full of dirt, and he's not backing away from it. So that's what it tells you about Doc, and he'll do anything for this group to spark the team.
Q. Was he in early for treatment today?
MIGUEL ROJAS: He should because I feel like his hamstring is kind of bothering him. But, I mean, we got plenty of tables there full of players.
Q. How big of a head start would he have needed to have won?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Oh, I just think he had a better chance going straight from first to third on a straight line, you know, and then make Kim, like, going around. I think that was the initial thought of the race, but then he wanted to prove a point that he can beat him from that start, and it wasn't enough. We all saw the results.
Q. You guys have talked about needing to get to a better team approach offensively. What have you done -- talked about with each other over the last 24 hours to try to do that tonight?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, trying to free everybody up with kind of the mentality of, like, going into a play without being -- being okay with not being successful or not making a good out. Like, I feel like when you want to do so good, you press, and you start being really careful about your move and about your pitch selection and all that. Yeah, we have a plan, and we got to execute the plan, but at the end of the day, we are humans, and we got to be okay chasing balls, we got to be okay putting a bad swing on the ball. That doesn't mean that the next guy is going to do it.
I feel like all we have to do is free ourself up to go to the plate, know what you're good at, and kind of trust it instead of like going to the plate thinking about, oh, I don't want to mess that up, or I don't want to swing at this first pitch because -- I want to get on base. If you don't have in your game the walk or, like, the long ball, why are you going to be chasing that when an opportunity is out there for that.
I feel like the 18-inning game kind of taught us that. Like, we couldn't build an inning until Freddie hit the homer. I feel like it's really important for us to focus on what you're good at and what's your kind of your tool package in this situation instead of trying to be like someone else or trying to go out there and trying to do something bigger than what you're capable of doing.
Q. Can you talk about your view of Yamamoto since he first signed and showed up in spring training last season to where he is right now? What have you seen from him?
MIGUEL ROJAS: Yeah, he just became the guy, the horse, kind of like everybody knew he was going to be. We got a lot of stats on Japan, that he did this for a long time there. We know he came to a different league to face different hitters and all that and last year was kind of an adjustment for him. And even though he was adjusting, he won the World Series, and he was the guy for us.
This year he took it to a next level where he almost threw a no-hitter in Baltimore earlier in the year, and then the last three or four games that he pitched he's been taking the ball long in the game and we kind of know that he's kind of capable of that. But at the end of the day, it's really satisfying to see the results the last couple games.
So we're expecting him to kind of take the ball as long as he can today because we all know how good the guy prepares for every start. What he just did the other day, went to the bullpen on the 18 innings and willing to pitch in that situation, it talks a lot about the commitment and the effort that he's going to put for this team to be the horse.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports