AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS VS ORIOLES

October 10, 2023

James McCann

Ryan O'Hearn

Globe Life Field

Baltimore Orioles

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. For both, can you talk about what you've seen from Dean Kremer and how you think he'll handle this assignment tonight?

JAMES MCCANN: First off, Dean has put together an incredible year for us. He's pitched in a lot of big games. Obviously, the game where we clinched -- where we clinched the postseason and clinched the AL East. For a guy who didn't get off to the type of start he wanted to, the adjustments he made in season and his bulldog mentality, there's no one I trust more to have the ball in a game like tonight.

RYAN O'HEARN: Probably my biggest takeaway, the kind of competitor that he is. Any time he gets the ball, you can tell he's all business. From the minute he gets into the field and then, you know, when he's on the mound, he's the ultimate competitor. Definitely trust him in a big game like this, and excited to see what he's going to do.

Q. Ryan, Hyde said yesterday he thinks you've been taking good at-bats. Would you agree that's the way it's gone for you in?

RYAN O'HEARN: Absolutely. I feel like I'm hitting the ball the same I have all season long. Can think of a few line-outs and that swing the other day back home, just kind of hit it to the wrong part of the park. But I feel confident in the box. Swing feels good. I feel like I'm right where I need to be going into tonight.

Q. James, you didn't play in the first two games. What did you see from the team in those two games?

JAMES MCCANN: The first game was a battle. We got some runners on in different innings and unfortunately couldn't come through. Sometimes you got to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher. Two different innings we had guys on and Sborz and Chapman started dotting and got some big outs. I think the thing in Game 2 that stuck out to me was how we battled back. We got down big early and ended up putting up eight runs. It would have been easy to kind of roll over and die.

That's not what this team has done all year, and it's not something we're going to do now. I like the momentum that we built as far as battling back and hopefully it can carry over into tonight.

Q. Ryan, so yesterday in the clubhouse, you told us you're not ready to be done playing with this team this year. How do you kind of channel that feeling, that emotion for both of you guys, channel that mentally to be your best, play your best, in a must-win game like this?

RYAN O'HEARN: Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's an easy answer to channel it into the game. Every game we play, we're trying to win the game. I feel that way. I said it yesterday and a lot of guys feel that way in the clubhouse. It's a close group. It's guys that are not ready to go home. We want to continue to play.

So I think just coming out here tonight with a ton of energy, just playing hard, just like we've done all season. There's no secret and the game of baseball can be crazy at times and all these things happen. But I trust our guys, and we've been in these type of situations all year. We go down two games in a series and find a way to fight back. So if anybody can find a way to win and keep our season alive, it would be this group of guys.

JAMES MCCANN: I agree 100 percent with what he said. Obviously, this is different because of the playoffs, but we've been in this spot before. We've lost two games in a series and we've bounced right back. I think that's the mindset we have to have today.

We can't change our mindset. We can't change who we've been for 162 games, the success we've had coming into the playoffs. Just because we're down 0-2 doesn't mean we need to change who we are. Staying true to who we are, having each other's back and go out and play the game hard. See what happens.

Q. Ryan, of course, it is different because you if you don't win, you go home tomorrow. Do you embrace that mentality or try to flush it from your mentality so it doesn't become bigger than it is?

RYAN O'HEARN: Everybody knows what the deal is. That's just part of it. If you dwell on that, maybe that hinders your ability to play to the best of your ability. I think for me, I'm just going to go out, enjoy every moment. I'm going to compete every pitch and play hard. We're going to try to win the game.

I'm not going to be thinking about what could possibly go wrong the whole game. We're going to go out and try to win the game.

Q. Kind of a follow-up to that. Specifically when you guys are in that situation, do you talk about it at all, or is it just, We understand. We know what's going on? Do you talk to some of the younger guys about the situation?

JAMES MCCANN: I don't think I've heard anyone talk about it. It's something that goes unsaid. We didn't talk about it during the season. We lost two games in a row, three games in a row. It's not like we sat around talking about we better win today. Something that's so special about this group is the tenacity and the grit that yesterday didn't matter. The day before didn't matter.

We're focused on today. We're focused on each individual pitch, each individual inning, and the game is going to play out how it's going to play out.

Q. You guys a few minutes ago talked about Dean and how he handles stuff. One of the things, we know there's a lot going on overseas, his family there. He said yesterday how grateful he was for everybody checking in on him.

When you look at what he's going through and the position he's in tonight to pitch, talk about what this says about his grit and determination and mindset.

RYAN O'HEARN: Yeah, for one, I think it shows how much he cares about the team and how much he wants to go out and pitch for us, and it's kind of been our thing all year. We play for each other.

As a teammate to Dean, all I can do is support him, love on him, and hopefully he can go out there and be able to pitch to the best of his ability without all that weighing on him.

Q. There's been some discourse this week about the playoff format, rest versus rust, the five days off. Do you feel like that benefited you to have that time? Would you have liked to have seen a different situation benefit you guys as the No. 1 seed in the American League?

JAMES MCCANN: I'm not going to sit up here and make excuses as to why we're down 0-2. I don't know. I don't know that there is a better way to set up the format. You have to have a bye somewhere. I'd say I think the only thing from a player standpoint that we could discuss as far as a different format would be a type of seeding of some sort.

Where you saw the second-best record in the AL get knocked out in the Wild Card round, how that looks, you have to reward the division winners as well. So I don't think there's an easy answer. But as far as is there a reason we're down 0-2? Is it because we had the days off? I don't think so. We easily could have had guys banged up and that time gave us time for them to get healthy.

I think that's just a way to change the narrative and that's not what we're going to do.

Q. Ryan, can you give us a rough figure on how many family and friends are here to support you from Frisco and Huntsville today?

RYAN O'HEARN: I've got probably eight family members. But a ton of friends. I went to high school here in Frisco. I still live here in Prosper in the offseason. A lot of ticket requests and trying to, you know, be cordial to everybody and, you know, show them I appreciate them. But at the same time, I gotta pay for the tickets so ...

(Laughter.)

RYAN O'HEARN: But very cool to be playing back home and have the support.

Q. You guys have been really good away from Camden Yards this season. What do you think has allowed you to thrive on the road and how can you carry that into the biggest road test, Game 3 tonight?

RYAN O'HEARN: It's a good question. I don't know if there's -- we don't feel like we play better at home or better on the road. I just think that we compete and we like to play. I don't think it matters to us that we're playing on the road as far as, like, you know, oh, we're going into their house. It's like, no, we're still alive.

We've got an opportunity to play again tonight and keep the season going. Who knows what can happen? And definitely throughout the season, having success on the road is a confidence builder. But I don't know if there's a specific reason as to why we played well on the road, but we just have.

JAMES MCCANN: I think that one thing about this team is we don't listen to the outside noise. You can go all the way back to Spring Training, when no one gave us a shot. People don't give teams on the road a shot. We don't really listen to that. We're down 0-2. A lot of people are counting us out already. We don't listen to that.

We show up to play each inning, each game, and we're going to play the same way we've done all year. I think it's special what we did on the road this year, but it's not something we sit around and talk about, we played so good on the road. We just focus on what we can control and that's how we've handled our business all year.