NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS VS BREWERS

October 6, 2025

Seiya Suzuki

American Family Field

Chicago Cubs

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Seiya, when you were at the podium the other day, you talked about kind of flipping a playoff switch in that last week of the regular season. I just wanted to follow up and see how you would describe that feeling and whether it's something that you can just turn on, or if it's the moment that kind of brings that out of you.

SEIYA SUZUKI: Yeah, I'm not sure myself. I think with the regular season, once it's over, it's just the teams that are left. It's just a competition of those teams. In an easy way, it's like a festival almost. You're just fighting and competing against the other teams that are left.

Regular season, you think about stats, obviously with the wins and the losses, but with the postseason, it's just that one game, who wins, who loses, and it's just stacking that on top of each other.

I'm not too sure. I would imagine it's just how that is of the structure of the postseason.

Q. Now that you've had a few postseason games under your belt including your first road environment experienced in an MLB postseason game, how has the playoffs lived up to what you thought it could be like, especially on the road, and what have you learned about yourself over these last couple games?

SEIYA SUZUKI: I mean, honestly, the experience has been fantastic. At home you had the fans cheering you on. That was a great environment. Even here, away, still kind of feels almost like I'm being cheered on with the away crowd. For me, there's not too much of a difference there.

But it's been a great experience, and I think it's something that I can carry on to the rest of my career. So hopefully for this postseason I can continue to experience it for as long as I can.

Q. We'll often ask in this game what comes first, confidence or results or results and then confidence. Late in the year when you started hitting, were you starting to feel confident before that, or describe the order of what you were feeling at the end of the season until now just how you've been hitting?

SEIYA SUZUKI: I would say I don't have any confidence. I think right now I'm just enjoying playing with the team, together with the team, and taking each game at a time and just really enjoying that moment.

I wouldn't say I have confidence there.

Q. Yesterday Craig was saying Shota pitches and shows so much joy on the mound but that he's also a really fierce competitor. How would you describe Shota as a competitor and just what it's been like watching him pitch?

SEIYA SUZUKI: I'd say Shota, he's always messing around. He's always joking around.

But on the mound, obviously in the moment he's locked in. But then there's a good balance of him having fun, messing around and just enjoying the moment, too, and I think that's something I do look up to about him is having that balance, having that switch that he can turn on to focus when he needs to and really enjoy the moment when he needs to, too.

Q. Seiya, Pete was complimenting you on how well you've played right field recently. What has it been like for you to contribute on both sides of the ball in the most important games of the year?

SEIYA SUZUKI: I mean, I don't think I've made plays that really Pete should compliment. But I will say just being able to play offense and defense, both sides of the ball, I've been very thankful for it and I've been enjoying it.

I think being able to contribute to the team on the offensive side as well as the defensive side, I think it really comes down to preparation, how much I'm preparing for the game, and hopefully I can do my best to contribute to the team on both sides.